Is Science Inherently Sexist - Essay Example

Philosophy Contents Introduction 2 Gender stereotypes 3 Reflective Analysis 3 The integration of culture, traditions and science 4 The psychological dimension 6 The impact of historicism 7 Conclusion 8 References 8 Introduction There has been a long debate over the physical and psychological dominance of males over females. However, the main concern of most researchers and scholars in this regard has been the “gender stereotypes” which societies have unnecessarily set and tend to focus upon without any effect. For example, several studies have proven that women perform worse in mathematics than their male counterparts. There are other examples set for whom the effect has been demonstrated. Hence, when people have an idea that they will be judged and evaluated as a particular member of a group and not on their individual merit and specifically on a stereotype than they will certainly be disadvantaged in their domain and they may perform below par. It stands true for women because since the advent of time, they have been treated as a second fiddle to males in almost every professional discipline (Bertrand and Hallock 2001). Gender stereotypes As stated by Heidbreder, E. (1953), gender stereotypes have certainly been one of the most influential concepts in academic psychology for the past few years. They have made a huge contribution towards synergizing the strengths of males and females rather than just comparing them. It has been asserted by various social psychologists and academic researchers that gender stereotypes have always made a considerable impact on human psychology. The study focuses on the fact that an individual’s gender, race, cast or creed cannot be taken into account to observe and evaluate performance detriments. Females have always been pegged behind due to the clichéd philosophy of our society and for the eradication of such age-old thoughts, extensive research has been made. Reflective Analysis Are men better at science than women? Does science sexist? Are scientists sexist? These are some of the questions, which one needs to critically analyze before coming to any conclusion. If one would have evaluated this question a couple of centuries ago then the answer would have varied to a huge extent as compared to what a person keeps an opinion of his or her today that is in the modern world. It is a fact that, just like a society or community, culture and traditions of a society have a crucial impact on an individual’s morale, motivation and performance but there has still been a dearth of evidence for this crucial concept and there have been varied opinions and views in this regard (Schacter, 2007). The integration of culture, traditions and science We have to closely analyze the role of culture regarding this very important opinion. We have to analyze from the origins of science when there were not really big names in science. Though there have been some important contributions made to science from female scientists such as Marie Curie, who was known for the invention of radioactivity and radium. However, most of the contributions in science have been made by male scientists (Gneezy, 2002). The list includes famous scientists such as Archimedes who was known for Archimedes’s principle and Archimedes’s screw, Aristotle who was known for his noble ideas such as golden mean and Aristotelian logic and many others including Leonardo-Da-Vinci, Galileo Galilee, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein etc who have been famous for their contributions towards science. It is evident that there have been many famous male scientists as compared to female scientists from the very beginning of science. Now the reason being are may be the culture and the two different sets of minds of male and females. Role of culture One cannot deny the fact that from the very beginning of the world, the society has been male dominant not only when it comes to science but also in other aspects of life. In addition, this may be the big reason behind the fact that why we have not witnessed such famous female names not only in the field of science but in almost every sector of life. However, there has been a drastic change in culture, which has been significantly different as compared to what it was a couple of centuries back if we look globally (Schacter, 2007). Still we have not really found any such renowned female scientist name. On the other hand, we are well aware about extraordinary talents such as “Stephan Hawking” and his contributions to modern science which he is known for and that is worth mentioning here such as his thesis on properties of expanding universes and besides that he is also known for “hawking radiation” and “Penrose” -hawking theorems. May be we find any renowned female scientist name in the future but till present we have seen most of the contributions towards science by the male scientists. Role of Society According to Goldin (2000), it is a travesty that many social communities and cultures have criticized strictly the liberalism and freedom of women and due to this fact; men have constantly obtained superiority over women. Such clichés and stereotypes have hindered the growth and development of women in various sectors of life. The reason being that according to some traditions “making women more liberal and free can have a highly negative impact on their society and specifically on young adults and teenagers who are immature and may not understand the true essence of gender influences on society” (Heidbreder,1953). The other reason why women are not given enough freedom and liberty are as follows: Various societies tend to have a preventive approach towards female dominance and they discriminate men and women rather than synergizing their attributes and seeking for smooth and swift operations. Although many families and communities try to encourage extensive harnessing and development of females and also try to maintain an effective relationship between men and women by increasing the communication between them, enhancing mutual co ordination and also improve problem solving skills but conflicts of interests don’t allow such views and opinions to develop on a bigger scale. Is science inherently sexist or are scientists inherently sexist Although one cannot proclaim or prove that science is sexist or the scientist are sexist, but it is a fact that the world has witnessed so many contributions in the field of science by males that is possibly because of their different mindsets which helped them to make most of the contributions towards science. In addition, this propels us to assert that because of so many contributions made by male scientists towards science, men are better than women in the field of science and that too until now, if not forever. Various academic researchers and social scientists have stated that in terms of intellectual depth and mental capacity, males are more superior in terms of ability as compared to females. This theory focuses that males are intellectually more refined as compared to females. On the contrary, many researchers have refuted to this claim and have criticized the logic of this hypothesis. They have also stated that there has been no empirical evidence regarding this and could prove that men were superior to woman in terms of ability. The psychological dimension According to Shields (1975), both men and women possess two different mindsets and that is the reason why there are more contributions in the field of science by men as compared to women. However, the point to note here is that it may not be in every case but still in most of the cases because still such distinct contributions have been made by the female scientists, which were not made by such renounced male scientists. Although not in a great volume but still the discoveries by such female scientist were such that the world knows and remembers them. That is to say, that when a female scientist has ever tried to make some contributions then there were not much names as few succeeded to reach at that level where male scientists have reached up till now. The reason being is that there are two dimensions of the operation of the human brain that is one is multi working which is related to thinking about more than one particular subject at a time and the other dimension is keep thinking about one particular subject at a time and moving on to the next level every other time. Therefore, this means that the brain of a man is different as compared to women in such a way that it helps a man to keep doing his research and experiments regarding a particular subject. This helps him to discover further facts regarding his research and that is why we have seen many male scientists who have done research in science and have made so many discoveries. In addition, they have done it to that level which a female scientist have never really done that except for the few famous female scientists and this because of the two different mind sets of men and women which tends the men to think more and more about a subject and discovering the related facts regarding the subject (Leonard, 1989). The impact of historicism In an academic sense, Historicism is a mode of thinking, which assigns a basic significance to a specific context, which includes a historical period, geographical place and local culture and traditions. It is due to the fact that historicism tends to be hermeneutical rather than merely factual because it places huge emphasis on thoroughly contextualized interpretation of information and also source of information (Kahn, 1997). It also rejects universal, traditional and fundamental interpretations and focuses on pragmatic theories. Historicism does have an important view in this regard because when implementing this theory in gender comparison, various assertions and implications may be reflected upon which may neglect the role of traditions and cultures. Conclusion There has been huge emphasis on the development of social psychology and the role of the women in our society. However, extensive research has been made on the development of our educational systems and the societies on a large level. They have also inspired some positive and thought provoking psychological research and it does help to have certain individuals which can be managed to overcome some stereotypical threats and how do certain organizations can help to manage and bridge performance gaps. Evaluation of the intolerance towards men and women in this regard is crucial. With close co-operation and analysis, individuals can easily be able to evaluate the acceptability of their mutual needs and will be able to find a solution to their relationship. By eliminating the traditional way of gender classification, society can find innovative and more thought provoking ways to nurture the relationship between males and females by effectively communicating with each other and focusing on synergizing their roles and traits on a bigger scale. References Bertrand, M. and Hallock, F. (2001). “The Gender Gap in Top Corporate Jobs,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, LV, 3–21. Blau, F. and Lawrence, M. (2000). “Gender Differences in Pay,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, XIV, 75–99. Gneezy, U. (2002). Gender and Competition at a Young Age. Mimeo. Goldin, C. (2000) “Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of “Blind” Auditions on Female Musicians,” American Economic Review, XL, 715–742. Heidbreder, E. (1953). "Robert Sessions Woodworth 1869-1962". British Journal of Psychology, 54: 199–200. Kahn, J. (1997). "Historicism." Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 50, no. 4, p. 1202. Leonard, Z: (1989). “Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking”. Psychology Press, p. 10. Schacter, D. (2007). Psychology. Worth Publishers, pp. 26–7. Shields, A (1975) “Ms. Pilgrim’s Progress: The contributions of Leta Stetter Hollingworth to the psychology of women”. American Psychologist, 30, 852-858. Read More