Women and science

Abstract

This article explores two interconnected questions: why are there not more women scientists, and what would scientific inquiry and subject matter consist of if there were equal numbers of male and female scientists. The latter question relates additionally to the problem of how to change the forms of scientific inquiry and teaching in order to achieve full entry of women into the scientific workplace. In answering these questions I have pointed out that the reconstruction of the real history of women in science is only in its earliest stages. Furthermore, examination of the evidence indicates that the assertions that women are less mathematically able and less scientifically creative than men are more myth than fact. Finally, I have pointed out that science is a social construct, and have explored the likelihood that full equality for women in science would profoundly alter the structure of scientific practice itself.