Gendered Science

Abstract

Women have historically been relegated to less significant positions in the society due to their alleged ‘innate disabilities’. The terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ have been collapsed together since the longest time equating female with feminine and male with masculine and the latter being superior. Women were actively discouraged from pursuing ‘hard sciences’ or STEM professions and their contributions were ignored. The contemporary query is to know the factors which cause disproportionate ‘leaking’ of females from STEM fields, a phenomenon called the ‘leaky pipeline’. To probe into this inquiry, it is important to know the distinct theorizations of sex and gender in biology and sociology and how these theorizations could indirectly serve as the basis of discrimination. The two theorizations have been increasingly reconciling since sociology has been increasingly focusing on the significance of ‘body’ in influencing an individual’s everyday experiences. Another way to look into the problem is by questioning the very nature of scientific discipline. Is science inherently masculine? Is a female scientist a contradiction in herself? Plus, adding the narratives of students and working scientists to the above framework provides an in-depth understanding of the reality of gender bias and discrimination in science.