WOMEN AND SCIENCE   Tu and Fr 2:00-3:20, LIB 154   Facilitator: Sandra Gilchrist   Office: Hanson 36, lab Hanson 42   Office hours: Tu 9:30-11:00; others by appointment  please (reach by email at gilchris@sar.usf.edu or call at 359-4377 and leave voice mail message)   Text: Women’s Science:  Learning and Succeeding from the Margins (designated as WS in readings) by Margaret Eisenhart and Elizabeth Finkel.

 

Women from all societies have been important in generating scientific ideas as well as in translating ideas into technology.   Science as a way of knowing can take many forms across cultures.  This class is a brief introduction to understanding the challenges of the past and embracing those of the future.  By revealing women throughout the world and over time who have made these contributions, we will explore current underpinnings of what is now called the scientific enterprise.  We will focus on two specific areas: women’s roles in the sciences and the impact of science on women’s lives.  Students will be asked to participate in the class through guided discussions, minute papers, reading journals (one entry per week), and a final project.  We will also have an online discussion question and dialogue (access webBoard; IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU HAVE A COMPUTER ACCOUNT (see me if you need help with getting one on campus).  The reading journals should contain reactions to assigned papers (short, on the order of  2 to 3 pages; see guidelines below) as well as conclusions from discussion exercises done in class.  The final project can be an annotated bibliography of a woman in science or a short (5-9 pages plus references) paper based on a specific topic about women and science.  Other forms of final projects will be considered (for example, some students in the past have opted to do short videos or to present posters with bibliographies).    Tuesday classes will be primarily lecture and discussion while Friday classes will be primarily group activities.  IT IS VITAL THAT STUDENTS DO ASSIGNED READINGS BEFORE CLASS TO MAKE DISCUSSIONS MORE INCLUSIVE AND MEANINGFUL.  Students will form groups with contracts for participation (see below for group contract guidelines).  The members of a group will be asked for a self-evaluation, the group will provide a collective evaluation, and members of the group will provide evaluations of others as a part of the overall evaluation.

 

Week #	Topic	Suggested Readings*
1	Gendered Landscapes	WS  part 1, CC 1, PWB part 1, FIT Chapter 2 WSS ch 1; ++Korean Women Today 1998,  Bellas and Toukoushian 1999,  Riger, et al. 1997
2	Practice on the Margins Those who have made it	WS introduction and part 2, WSS ch 2, RES 210-227 Karet, 1999, Women in Action 1999, Sweet 1999, SACNAS Biography (you should also look at oral histories to find Patricia Durbin, among others)
3	“Feminist” approaches to the sciences	MM Chapter 3, 4; TTM ch 2, GIC ch 14, CP 123-160; Keller 1997, Kerr 1998, Oakley 1998
4	Science Policy and Reproduction Medicine	IW Chapter 1 and conclusion,  GSA 340-364, TO 26-31, 67-110, PB ch 2, DI p 24-38, 242-254, WHR ch 2, 4 and 237-242;  Biggs 1998,  Chang, et al 1999, Taylor, 1999, Ament and Hanson 1998; see also www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9118/mike2.html
5	Double Bind:  Racism and Sexism	TTM ch 3, REC 201-209, WHR ch 5, RES 359-376, CCI 183-196, VJF 66-101, 185-225;  Burke and Whitworth 1998, Rosser 1993, Corral 1998, Johnson, et al. 1998
6	Contributions to “science”	WIC ch 1, Y 135-144, NP 255-279, 359-380, TBL 111-120; Light 1999, Hawkins, 1998, Zweifel 1997
7	Women Changing Science	WS ch 8 and 9, GIC ch 7, DI 133-162, FCS 92-102, STG 103-122, 123-144; Rosser 1999, Shulman 1996, Sloat 1993
	WRAP UP	ALL WORK DUE 5PM EST MONDAY OF WEEK 8

 

*see supplemental reading list for other choices; ++ can be found online (using MUSE and Contemporary Women’s Issues databases) or  Elsevier—complete citation below

 

Week 1 citation readings (readings are in the library along with the supplemental readings on reserve)

author unknown.  1998.  Eliminate Gender Discrimination in Textbooks Induce Girl Students to Major in High Tech Science and Technology.  Korean Women Today 59: 7.

Bellas, Marcia L. and Toutkoushian, Robert. 1999.  Faculty Time allocations and Research Productivity:  Gender, Race and Family Effects. The Review of Higher Education 22(4):  367-390.

Riger, Stephanie, Stokes, Joseph, Raja, Sheela, and Sulluvan, Megan.  1997.  Measuring Perceptions of the Work Environment for Female Faculty.  The Review of Higher Education 21(1):  63-78.

 

Week 2 citation readings

Karet, Gail.  1999.  Women in Science:  Getting Ahead in a ‘Man’s World’.   R&D Magazine 41(10):  10SE-11SE.

Women in Action.  1999.  Irish Teener Stuns Computer World with Encoding Invention.  Women in Action 1: 9.

Sweet, Victoria.  1999.  Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening of Medieval Medicine.  Bulletin of the History of Medicine 73(3):  381-403.

SACNAS Biography.  1999.  Lydia Villa-Komaroff. www.sacnas.org/journal/fa99/page7.html.

 

Week 3 citation readings

Keller, Eve.  1997.  Producing Petty Gods:  Margaret Cavendish’s Critique of Experimental Science.  ELH 64(2):  447-471.

Kerr, E. Anne.  1998.  Toward a Feminst Natural Science:  Linking Theory and Practice.  Women’s Studies International Forum 21(1):  95-105.

Oakley, Ann.  1998.  Science, Gender and Women’s Liberation:  An Argument Against Postmodernism.  Women’s Studies International Forum 21(2):  133-146.

 

Week 4 citation readings

Biggs, Laura.  1998.  Discourses of “Forced Sterilization” in Puerto Rico:  The Problem with the Speaking Aubaltern (part 1 of 7 and part  6 of 7).  Differences- A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 10:  30-34 and 55-61.

Chang, L., Ernst, T.  Strickland, T. and Mehringer, CM.  1999.  Cocaine affects men and women’s brains differently.  The Brown University Digest of Addiction Theory and Application 18(8):  1.

Tanne, Janice.  1999.  Survey reveals deficits in women’s health care.  The Western Journal of Medicine 171(1):  56.

Taylor, Janette.  1999.  Colonizing Inages and Diagnostic Labels:  Oppressive Mechanisms for African American Women’s Health.  Advances in Nursing Science 21(3):  32-44.

Ament, Lynette and Hanson, Lisa.  1998.  A model for the future:  certified nurse-midwives replace residents and house staff in hospitals.  Nursing and Healthcare Perspectives 19(1):  26-34.

 

Week 5 citation readings

Bunting, Shiela M.  1996.  Sources of stigma associated with women with HIV.  Advances in Nursing  Science 19(2):  64-73.

Fong, CM.  1985.  Ethnicity and nursing practice.  Topics in Clinical Nursing 7:  1-10.

Birke, Lynda and Whitworth, Rosalind.  1998.  Seeking knowledge:  Women, Science, and Islam.  Women’s Studies International Forum 21(2):  147-159.

Rosser, Sue.  1993.  Diversity Among Scientists-Inclusive Curriculum Improved Science- An upward Spiral.  Initiatives 55(2):  11-19.

Harding, Sandra.  Is Science Multicultural?  Challenges, Resources, Opportunities, Uncertainties.  Configurations 2.2:  301-330.

Corral, Jill.  1998.  The color of information-Is Technology forgetting women of color?  Hues (1998)p 21.

Johnson, Cheryl, Wicks, Mona, Milstad, Jean, Hartwig, Mary, and Hathaway, Donna.  1998.  Racial and gender differences in quality of life following kidney transplantations.  Journal of Nursing Scholarship 30(2):  125-131.

 

Week 6 citation readings

Light, Jennifer.  1999.  When Computers were Women.  Technology and Culture 40.3:  455-483.

Hawkins, Ronnie.  1998.  Ecofeminism and Nonhumans-Continuity, Difference, Dualism, and Domination.  Hypatia 13(1):  187-197.

Zweifel, Helen.  1997.  The Gendered Nature of Biodiversity Conservation.  9(3):  117-123.

Johnson, Cheryl, Wicks, Mona, Milstad, Jean, Hartwig, Mary, and Hathaway, Donna.  1998.  Racial and Gender differences in Quality of Life following Kidney Transplantations.    Journal of Nursing Scholarship 30(2):  125-131.

 

Week 7 citation readings

Rosser, Sue.  1999.  International Experiences Lead to Using Postcolonial Feminism to Transform Life Sciences Curriculum.  Women’s Studies International Forum 22(1):  3-15.

Shulman, Bonnie.  1996.  What if we Change our Axioms?  A Feminist Inquiry into the Foundations of Mathematics.  Configurations 4.3:  427-451.

Sloat, Barbara.  Undergraduate Women in the Sciences-Removing Barriers.  Initiatives 55(2):  5-10.

 

We will also be using excerpts from the following on reserve:

Broken Silence:  Voices of Japanese Feminism (1997) ed by Sandra Buckley (VJF)

Critical Chicana Issues:  Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (1993) ed by Norma Alarcon, Rafaela Castro, Emma Perez, Beatriz Pesquera, Adalijiza Sosa Riddell, and Patricia Zavella (CCI)

Dangerous Intersections Feminist Perspectives on  Population, Environment, and Development (1999) by Jael Silliman and Ynestra King (DI) 

Racial Economy of Science:  Toward a Democratic Future (1993) ed Sandra Harding  (RES) 

Who Succeeds in Science?  The Gender Dimension (1995) by Sonnert and Holton (WSS)

Monocultures of the Mind:  Perspectives on Biodiversity and Biotechnology (1993) by Vandana Shiva (MM)

Teaching the Majority:  Breaking the Gender Barrier in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering ed by Sue Rosser (TTM) 

Gender In/Forms Curriculum :  From Enrichment to Transformation (1995) Jane Gaskell and John Willinsky (eds) (GIC) 

The Color of Privilege:  Three Blasphemies on Race and Feminism (1996)  Aida Hurtado (CP)

Invalid Women:  Figuring Femining Illness in American Fiction and Culture, 1840-1940 (1993)  by Diane Herndl  (IW)

Gender and Scientific Authority (1996)  ed Barbara Laslett, Sally Gregory Kohlstedt, Helen Longino and Evelynn Hammonds (GSA)

The Technology of Orgasm:  Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women’s Sexual Satisfaction  (1999) by Rachel Maines  (TO)

Pandora’s Box:  Feminism Confronts Reproductive Technology (1998) by Nancy Lubin  (PB)

Has Feminism Changed Science?  Londa Schiebinger (1999) (FCS)

Inventing Women:  Science, Technology and Gender  (1992 ) Gill Kirkup and Laurie Smith Keller (STG) 

Nobel Prize Women in Science:  Their Struggles and Momentous Discoveries (1993)  Sharon Bertsch McGrayne (NP)

Politics of Women’s Biology (1990) by Ruth Hubbard  (PWB) 

The Bone Lady:  Life as a Forensic Anthropologist (1999) Mary Manheim (TBL)

Women and Health Research (1994)  ed Anna Mastroianni, Ruth Faden, and Daniel Federman (WHR) [Anita Allen, NC grad, contributed to volume]

Women Changing Science:  Voices from a Field in Transition (1995) by Mary Morse  (FIT) 

Women in Chemistry:  Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to the Mid-twentieth Century (1998) Marelene and Geoffrey Rayner-Canham (WIC)

Women in Science:  Meeting Career Challenges (1998) ed by Angela Pattatucci  (CC) 

Yearning  (1990) bell hooks (Gloria Watkins) (Y)

 

Internet

research.med.umkc.edu/teams/cml/womendrs.html   women physician autobiographies

www.nwhp.org/index.html  national women’s history project—several links and other resources

www.sea.uct.ac.za:80/sawise  South African Women in Science and Technology—excellent resource of scientists from South Africa with several links

www.astr.us.edu/4000WS/4000WS.html   site containing historical accounts of women in science from antiquity to present

www.geocities.com/Wellesley/6647/  One woman’s journey through disease and self help—Waabnong Kwe’s story

www.lib.lsu.edu/lib/chem/display/faces.html  excellent site focusing on African Americans in science with a special section on women

www.4women.gov/owh/pub/woc/index.html   women of color health data book  Provides links and updates on women's health

www.igc.org/igc/gateway/   Women of Color Resource Guide has several links.  There is some emphasis on science and effects of science on women of color

conbio.rice.edu/nae/docs/iwen.html  Indigenous Women’s Environmental Network   provides discussions of scientific issues affecting women, especially relating to location of nuclear waste areas near tribal lands

www.fda.gov/womens/  Office of Women’s Health, Food and Drug Administration offers information gathered by government agencies on women’s health

 

Supplemental Reading list

Adeola, Francis.  1994.  Environmental Hazards , Health, and Racial Inequity in Hazardous Waste Distribution.  Environment and Behavior 26:  99-126.

Armstrong, Liz and Scott, Adrienne.  1992.  Whitewash:  Exposing the Health and Environmental Dangers of Women’s Sanitary Products and Disposable Diapers.  Toronto, Harper Collins.

Balsamo, Anne.  1990.  Rethinking Ethnography:  A work of the feminist imagination.  Studies in Symbolic Interactionism 11:  75-86.

Benditt, John.  1994.  Women in Science ’94:  Comparisons Across Cultures.  Science 263:  1467-1496.

Bleier, Ruth.  1986.  Sex Difference Research:  Science or Belief, in Feminist Approaches to Science, R. Bleier (ed), Pergammon Press, New York.

Bleier, Ruth.  1988.  A Decade of Feminist Critiques in the Natural Sciences. Signs 14:  182-195.

Block-Couts, L and Berg, D.  1994.  The extended curse:  Being a woman everyday.  Health Care Women International 15(1):  11-22.

Bordo, Susan.  1986.  The Cartesian Masculinization of Thought.  Signs 11 (3):  439-456.

Clewell, Beatriz.  1991.  Women of Color in Mathematics, Science, and Engineering:  A review of the literature.  Center for Women’s Policy Studies, Washington, DC.

Culotta, Elizabeth.  1993.  Women Struggle to Crack the Corporate Culture.  Science 260:  398-404.

Dagg, Anne and Beauchamp, Rachelle.  1991.  Is there a feminist science?  Perceived Impact of Gender on Research by Women Scientists.  Atlantist 16:  77-84.

Edwards, Robert and Ziegler, Vickie.  1995.  Matrons and Marginal Women in Medieval Society. Boydell Press.

Giladi, Avner.  1998.  Breast-feeding in Medieval Islamic Thought:  A Preliminary Study of Legal and Medical Writings.  Journal of Family History 23 (2):  107-123.

Grossman, DC, Krieger, JW, Sugarman, JR.  1994.  Health status of urban American Indians and Alaska natives:  A population-based study.  Journal of the American Medical Association  271:  845-850.

Halpin, Zuleyma Tang.  1988.  Scientific Objectivity and the Concept of “The Other”.  Women’s Studies International Forum 12 (3):  285-294.

**Harding, Sandra.  1993.  The Racial Economy of Science:  Toward a Democratic Future.  Indiana University Press, Indianapolis.

** Haraway, Donna.  1989.  Primate Visions:  Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science. Routledge, New York.

**Haraway, Donna.  1991.  A Cyborg Manifesto:  Science Technology and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century.  Simians, Cyborgs, and Women, pp149-181.  Routledge, New York.

King, Helen.  1997.  Reading the Female Body (review of three recent titles, one concerning the Middle Ages and the other two Classical Greece). Gender and History 9 (3):  620-624.

LaRosa, JH and Pinn, Vivian.  1993.  Gender Bias in Biomedical Research.  Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association 48:  145-151.

Laskey, W.K. 1992.  Gender differences in management of coronary artery disease:  bias or good clinical judgement?  Annals of Internal Medicine 116:  869-871.

Loeb. Catherine.  1980.  La Chicana:  A Bibliographic Survey.  Frontiers 5 (2):  59-74.

Mednick, Martha .  1989.  On the Politics of Psychological Constructs:  Stop the Bandwagon, I Want to Get Off.  American Psychologist 44 (8): 1118-1123.

Mendelsohn, KD, Nieman, LZ, Isaacs, K, Lee, S, and Levison, SP.  Gender bias in anatomy and physical diagnosis text illustrations.  Journal of the American Medical Association 272:  1267-1270.

Miller, M. A.  1995.  Culture, spirituality, and women’s health.  Journal Obstetrical, Gynecological, and Neonatal Nuns:  24:  257-263.

Percival, Eleanor.  1943.  Menstrual Disturbances as they may affect Women in Industry.  The Canadian Nurse 39:  335-337.

Rosser, Sue.  1987.  Feminist Scholarship in the Sciences.  Hypatia 2 (3):  3-14.

Sime, Ruth Lewin.  1998 (January).  Lise Meitner and the Discovery of Nuclear Fission.  Scientific American:  80-85.

Spencer, Paula Underwood.  1990.  A native American Worldview.  Noetic Sciences Review 1990 (summer):  102-108.

Wenger, N.K. 1991.  Cardiovascular drugs:  the urgent need  for studies in women.  Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association 46:  117-120.

Weston, LMC.  1995.  Women’s Medicine, Women’s Magic:  The Old English Metrical Childbirth Charms.  Modern Philology 92 (3):  279-293.

Wetzel, Richard and McClure, James.  1972.  Suicide and the Menstrual Cycle:  A Review.  Comprehensive Psychiatry 13(4):  369-374.

 

*on electronic reserve

**in library on reserve

 

Guidelines for WebBoard

    You can access webBoard by clicking on highlighted words in the description or you can go to the site at 131.247.152.222/~SandraGilchrist.

    We will use this site to discuss ideas that will be advanced in the readings and in class activities.  I will pose a question to get the conversations going for the class.  You may go back and review the topics as we progress through the module;  I will leave the conferences on the page.  You can use a variety of features to help with exchanging ideas.  There is a section called “chat” that can be used to have online meetings.  This is especially useful if you have groups with very different schedules.  You can agree on a time that you will meet online and discuss ideas or make plans.  Chat has its own menubar that will help to navigate the different options.  Explore with your group and with other groups some of the options.  When posting a message, remember that this is a dialogue, not a monologue.  People are entitled to opinions with which you might not agree.  CIVILITY is the key in holding online discussions.  You can post anonymously.  Keep in mind that we are not “flaming” others whose opinions differ.  Everyone should feel that opinions are valued by others in the class.  You can attach files or images if you wish to do so in the conference posting.  For the purposes of this class, I will make this a closed board.  This means that students in the class can interact, but will not be joined by people outside of the class.  It is imperative that you log on and create a user profile as soon as possible. This self-registering makes it more efficient for me.  It does not matter if you have a New College account or one from another provider.   If you have problems with creating your profile, please let me know and I can facilitate your access.  You must, however, have a computer account.

 

Guidelines for reading journals

    The reading journal is a chance for you to draw together ideas about the different readings that you have done with the discussions and lectures in class.  Most of these will be done outside of class, though occasionally we will have time in class for you to start your comments.  These are not simple summaries of the material.  I am interested in understanding how you have engaged with the materials and have thought about questions raised from the information.  You may find that there are obvious questions that should have been addressed in the readings that were ignored.  To do an adequate job on the journals, you will need to read the materials carefully and thoughtfully.  You will also need to reflect on the class work.  It is therefore vital that you keep up with the readings individually and as a group.

    Different formats are acceptable for the entries.  However, the following information should be embedded within each.  Please do not simply “list” information.

    Identify the specific readings and class activities included in the entry

    The major points as you see them in the readings and activities

    Your first reaction to the activities and readings

    Relate the issues to your own experiences

    The connections between the readings and class activities

    Critical analysis of the readings including the methodologies used or the theories addressed, validity of data for supporting major ideas (are the sources biased?),              assumptions you make as well as those of the author, and problems with the ideas advanced

    Information from other classes or experiences that bear on the major points

    Note whether the author is using a different presentation style to explore the subject-for instance, is the author using a format to emphasize radical nature of information

 

Guidelines for group contracts

    It is important for groups to agree on participation ground rules.  A group contract is a way that all members can have an understanding of what is expected by other members.  Thinking is a skill that is often discussed and rarely practiced in a systematic manner.  Simple knowledge acquisition is not thinking.  It takes an active search for meaning to transition from information to knowledge.  Decision making in a group requires participation, cooperation, compromise and exercise of interpersonal skills.  Discussing ideas, both as a speaker and a listener, is a critical part of becoming a scholar.  Experience suggests that some students feel that others “are not sharing in the load” or are “choosing all of the fun stuff and leaving drudge work for others”.  Frustrations of managing group dynamics and “forcing others to conform” can lead to conflicts and to poor outcomes.  It is very easy to then “do” a project as an individual.  While individual work is certainly worthwhile, if students reflect on how they learn, the social context is very important.  By talking about what is expected of group members up front, some of the challenges of group work can be diminished.  In creating expectations, however, it is vital to recognize that students have different talents and different learning styles.  Allowing each person to write what she/he believes they can bring to the group may open up unanticipated possibilities.  This should be done before the discussion of the contract.  The group should also consider appropriate penalties for not adhering to the agreement.  Some groups have suggested a “divorce” clause to ask a student to leave the group.  Though certainly something that could be discussed, I think that this is not a good option for a contract.

    I have worked with students in workshops who have written contracts.  A sample group contract from one of these is as follows:

 

    We have discussed roles and responsibilities for this group called Fenestra which includes the following members (Name each member).  For each of our meetings (in person, by phone, cyber, etc) we agree that minutes will be taken and that decisions of the group will be recorded.  Each member will sign the minutes, acknowledging that information has been communicated and agreed upon.  If a member cannot attend a meeting, that member must read the minutes and sign them, noting that a copy has been received.  Each will include the minutes in the journal for the class.  Each member is responsible for attending meetings, reading materials in preparation for meetings, and for arranging to receive information if absent.

    We pledge to each other that when a timeline for completing assignments is agreed upon that we will adhere to that schedule to the best of our abilities.  Each of us takes personal responsibility  for the success of the projects, individuals are responsible for the success of the group, and the group is responsible for the growth of the individuals.

    We understand that learning from each other is important and we agree that we will maximize our collective efforts.  Each will strive to go beyond personal limits to stretch boundaries of ideas and understanding.  We also have agreed upon how we will evaluate participation for group members.  This is included as a part of our first minutes.  If a member does not meet responsibilities, we will try to resolve the issue internally and then will seek assistance of the instructor for conflict resolution.