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1.  Introduction.  Science as a body of knowledge and as a social system
 

Fri., Sept. 11 Methods, Goals, Values, Norms.  Science vs. feminism.
Ways of studying women/gender in science and technology.
Rec. Londa Schiebinger, "The History and Philosophy of Women in Science: A Review Essay," Signs, Winter 1987

 

Gender and Science

2.  Women and Science: History, 1600-1800
 

Mon., Sept. 14 Schiebinger, The Mind Has No Sex?, 1-118
  • "Introduction" 
  • "Institutional Landscapes"
  • "Noble Networks"
  • "Scientific Women in the Craft Tradition"
  • "Women's Traditions"
Wed., Sept. 16 Schiebinger, The Mind Has No Sex?, 119-277
  • "Battles over Scholarly Style"
  • "Competing Cosmologies: Locating Sex and Gender in the Natural Order"
  • "The Triumph of Complementarity"
  • "The Public Route Barred"
  • "The Exclusion of Women and the Structure of Knowledge"

3. Science Constructs the Female
 

Mon., Sept. 21 19th Century Science Russett, Sexual Science, 1-103
  • "How to Tell the Girls from the Boys"
  • "Up and Down the Phyletic Ladder"
  • "Hairy Men and Beautiful Women"
Wed., Sept. 23 19th Century Science Russett, Sexual Science, 104-206
  • "The Machinery of the Body"
  • "The Physiological Division of Labor"
  • "The Victorian Paradigm Ends"
  • "Women and the Cosmic Nightmare"

 4.  Gender in Science
 

Mon., Sept. 28 Sociobiology - How Far Genetic Determinism? Bleier, Science and Gender, 1-114
  • "Introduction"
  • "Sociobiology, Biological Determinism, and Human Behavior"
  • "The Brain and Human 'Nature'"
  • "Hormones, the Brain, and Sex Differences"
Wed., Sept. 30 Anthropological Myths: Man the Hunter, Farmer, Faber
 
 

Objectivity - What could be more true than science?

Bleier, Science and Gender, 115-161
  • "Theories of Human Origins and Cultural Evolution: Man the Hunter"
  • "The Subordination of women: A Problematic Universal"
Packet: "New Women of the Ice Age"
Bleier, Science and Gender, 193-207
  • "Patriarchal Science, Feminist Visions"

 

5.  Feminism Confronts Science.
 

Mon., Oct. 5 Harding, The Science Question in Feminism, 15-135
  • "From the Woman Question in Science to the Science Question in Feminism"
  • "Gender and Science: Two Problematic Concepts"
  • "The Social Structure of Science: Complaints and Disorders"
  • "Androcentrism in Biology and Social Science"
  • "Natural Resources: Gaining Moral Approval for Scientific Genders and Genderized Sciences"
Wed., Oct. 7 Harding, The Science Question in Feminism, 136-196; 243-251
  • "From Feminist Empiricism to Feminist Standpoint Epistemologies"
  • "Other 'Others' and Fractured Identities: Issues for Epistemologists" 
  • "Valuable Tensions and a New 'Unity of Science'"

Women and Science

6. Women in Science: Historical and Contemporary Individuals 1800-1996
 

Mon., Oct. 12 Packet:
  • Rossiter, "Women's Work"
  • Mitchell, "Henrietta Leavitt"
  • Patterson, "Mary Somerville"
  • Brush, "Drudges or Discoverers?"
  • Et al : Contemporary Exemplars - biosketches

7. Women and Men in Science: Sociological Patterns
 

Wed., Oct. 14  Packet:
  • Astin, "Citation Classics, . . "
  • Cole/Zuckerman,"Marriage and Motherhood"
  • Bielby, "Sex Differences in Careers"
  • Fox, "Gender and . . Productivity. ."
  • Keller, "The Wo/Man Scientist. . "
  • Cole/Fiorentine, "Discrimination: Confusing. . "
FALL READING PERIOD
Wed., Oct. 21 FIRST PAPER DUE
Open Class: Discussion of Papers and topics suggested by them
Mon., Oct. 26 Sonnert, Who Succeeds in Science?, 1-137
  • "Science Careers for Women and Men"
  • "Reaching the Top of Academe: Ten Who Succeeded"
  • "Taking a Different Road"
Wed., Oct. 28 Sonnert, Who Succeeds in Science?, 138-196
  • "Pieces of the Puzzle: Toward a Bigger Picture"
  • "Mapping Scientists' Careers"
  • "What Can be Done?  Advice for Novices and Policy Makers"

 

8. Educational Reforms?
 

Mon., Nov. 2 Packet:
  • Rosser, "Reaching the Majority"
  • Campbell/C-Wright, "Toward a Feminist Algebra"
  • Sanders, "Girls and Technology: Villain Wanted"
  • Barad, "Feminist . . Quantum Physics"
  • Gross/Levitt, "Auspicating Gender" [A Critique]
Wed., Nov. 4 Packet:  [Sex Differences in Mathematics]
  • Benbow, "Sex Differences in Mathematical. .Ability"
  • Et al, Further Commentary on Benbow
  • Selkow, "Male-Female Differences in Math Ability"

 

9.  Women in Science: Professors at Williams
 

Mon., Nov. 9 Guest Professors
Wed., Nov. 11 Guest Professors

 

Gender and Technology

10. Feminism and Technology
 

Mon., Nov. 16 Wajcman, Feminism Confronts Technology, 1-80
  • "Feminist Critiques of Science and Technology"
  • "The Technology of Production: Making a Job of Gender"
  • "Reproductive Technology: Delivered into Men's Hands"
Wed., Nov. 18 SECOND PAPER DUE

Wajcman, Feminism Confronts Technology, 81-161

  • "Domestic Technology: Labour-Saving or Enslaving"
  • "The Built Environment: Women's Place, Gendered Space"
  • "Technology as a Masculine Culture"

 
 

11. Engendering Technology - An Exemplar
 

Mon., Nov. 23 Cockburn and Ormrod, Gender and Technology in the Making, 1-97
  • "Achieving a New Technology"
  • "Gender in the Microwave-World"
  • "The Engineer and the Home Economist"
Wed., Nov. 25 Cockburn and Ormrod, Gender and Technology in the Making, 98-176
  • "White Goods, Brown Goods"
  • "Cooking and Zapping"
  • "Gender: Making and Remaking"

 
 

Women and Technology

12.  Women and the Culture of Engineering
 

Mon., Nov. 30 McIlwee and Robinson, Women in Engineering, 1-108
  • "Women in Engineering: A Promise Unfulfilled?"
  • "Women's Work and Engineering: Theoretical Issues"
  • "Paths to Engineering"
  • "College Experiences"
  • "Encountering the Engineering Workplace"
Wed., Dec. 2 McIlwee and Robinson, Women in Engineering, 109-191
  • "The Culture of Engineering in the Workplace"
  • "The Family and the Engineering Career"
  • "Conclusion"
[Fri., Dec. 4 Possible date for review of course exercise.]

 

13.Women and Household Technology
 

Mon., Dec. 7
Housework and Technology to the 20th century; Alternative Technologies.
Cowan, More Work for Mother, 3-150
  • "An Introduction: Housework and Its Tools"
  • "Housewifery: Household Work and Household Tools under Pre-Industrial Conditions"
  • "The Invention of Housework: The Early Stages of Industrialization"
  • "Twentieth-Century Changes in Household Technology"
  • "The Roads not Taken: Alternative Social and Technical Approaches to Housework"
Wed, Dec. 9 Domestic Technology and Household Work 1900-Post World War II Cowan, More Work for Mother,  151-219
  • "Household Technology and Household Work between 1900 and 1940"
  • "The Postwar Years"
  • "Postscript: Less Work for Mother"
Conclusion.  SCS.