Women and Science

Instructors: Dr. Nilhan Gunasekera and Dr. Holly Hassel

UWMC

Fall 2005

 

Course Description: Women and Science will take a three-pronged approach to its subject: the history of  women in science, their contributions to various fields, and current obstacles women face in scientific fields; how scientific disciplines have constructed gender and studied women; and feminist critiques of science, including recommendations for change, to encourage the participation in and representation of women in science.

 

 

Objectives:

 

  • To provide an overview of the contributions of women scientists (both historical and contemporary) in the Natural Sciences
  • To survey the participation of women in science using analysis of research data
  • To provide an understanding of how women view, and are viewed, by the sciences.
  • To examine the assumptions underlying traditional research methods and to identify potential sources of gender bias in scientific research design.
  • To relate the issue of gender bias to other forms of minority bias in research.
  • To create a classroom environment in which the experiences of women and men are validated by incorporating gender-inclusive alternative teaching methods that emphasize cooperative learning, group discussion and critical analysis.

 

Materials:

 

Rosser, Sue V. Re-Engineering Female Friendly Science. New York: Teachers College Press, 1997.

Thom, Mary, Balancing the Equation: Where are Women and Girls in Science, Engineering and Technology? New       York: National Council for Research on Women, 2001.

Gender Differences in Science Careers: The Project Access Study (Rutgers University Press, 1995),

Who Succeeds in Science? The Gender Dimension (Rutgers University Press, 1995),

The Gender and Science Reader. Muriel Lederman and Ingrid Bartsch.

Course Packet

 

Requirements:

 

 

  • Participation: 25%  Students are expected to participate actively in the course discussions and activities.
  • Writing Assignments: 30% Students will be asked to complete a variety of short in-class and out-of-class writing assignments.  
  • Final Project: 30%  For the final course project, students will undertake a scholarly investigation on a topic of their choice related to the course theme. Their project may be undertaken collaboratively or individually.
  • Final Presentation: 15%  In addition to the final project, students will present the findings of their research/study in a 10-15 minute presentation to the class.

 

 

Course Policies:

Grades:

Letter grades will be assigned on a percentage-point scale as given below:

 

A+          98-100%

A             93-97

A-           90-92

B+           87-89

B             83-86

B-            80-82

C+           77-79

C             73-76

C-            70-72

D+           67-69

D             63-66

D-            60-62

F              59 and below

We reserve the right to assign borderline grades as We deem appropriate.

 

A Note on Grades: An “A” grade is not a gift you get at the end of the semester for always coming to class and participating and completing your work on time.  For that, you earn a “C.” Beyond that, your work must be more than average—it must be good to earn a “B” and excellent to earn an “A.”  Please also remember that you are not your grades—you are a person, not a letter.  Good people can get average grades and vice versa.

 

Attendance: Since many of the activities in this class are interactive and occur during class, attendance is crucial. Students should plan to attend every class meeting. Work done in class cannot be made up unless exigent circumstances present themselves. Excessive absenteeism will adversely affect your final citizenship grade. Anything more than one absence is considered excessive. Attendance and in-class work make up about 30-40 percent of the course total, so poor performance in these areas has a very significant impact on your final grade: make every effort to be here on time and in class, with work completed, every day!

 

Academic Dishonesty:  Academic dishonesty is also known as plagiarism. Plagiarism is the use of another person’s language/words or ideas without proper citation. If you use more than four words in a row from another source, you should put quotation marks around them. If you borrow an idea from a published source, you need to use parenthetical documentation to give proper credit to that source. Any quote, paraphrase, or indirect quote must be cited appropriately. Please be aware that We will not hesitate to check on sources that seem incorrectly documented. The consequences of plagiarism are spelled out in the Student Rights and Regulations handbook.  For the purposes of this course, deliberate misuse of language or ideas will result in, at the least, failure of the assignment or paper, and possibly failure of the course with referral of the student to a disciplinary committee for further action by the university.

 

Policy on Late Work: Late work will not be accepted.  Assignments are due on the date listed in the syllabus. Students will be granted one 24-hour grace period (see attached form). One major assignment may be turned in late using this “coupon.”

 

study partnerships. Your partners will be responsible for providing notes and handouts for you if you are absent, for reviewing your papers critically when needed, and for general support. List the names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of your group-mates below, listing your primary study partner first:

 

Study Partner: ______________________                  Email and/or Phone Number: _________________________

 

Students with Disabilities: Students with disabilities that will in any way affect their work in this course should let me know so that I can work with you.  Also, please contact an advisor in Student Services to make arrangements for any necessary special services.

 

Policy:

 

Ideally, this syllabus would cover every contingency of every possibility that might arise in the course of the semester. Of course, reality dictates that will not be the case. Thus, We reserve the right to make changes to this syllabus as the need arises.

 

 

 

Schedule

Week One 

  • Introductions
  • Feminism and Science:
  • What is Women’s Studies?
  • What is Science?
  • Feminist Critique

 

Week Two

  • Contributions of Women Scientists
  • A brief history of scientific milestones
  • Read: Rosser, “Introduction: Female Friendly Science Goes Mainstream.” 1-18

 

Week Three  PANEL PRESENTATION: WOMEN SCIENCE EDUCATORS

  • How we teach science: K-12
  • The structure of  Science education
  • Women and Science in the Academy
  • Interview assignment
  • Read Thom, “K-12 Training the Nation’s Girls and Young Women.” 30-46 and “Academia: Graduate School and Beyond” 66-82

 

Week Four

  • Read Rosser, “Chapter 1: Curriculum Integration: Transformation or Assimilation?” p. 19-37
  • Read Rosser, Chapter 2: “Consequences of Ignoring Gender and Race in Group Work.” P. 38-52

 

Week Five

  • Read Rosser, Chapter 3: “Fruitful Dialogues: What Single-Sex and Coeducational Institutions Can Tell Each Other about Women and Science.” P. 53-67

 

Week Six: PANEL PRESENTATION: WOMEN IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

  • Science, industry, and women
  • Women in Corporate America
  • Read Thom “Business and Industry” 84-96

 

Week Seven

  • Read Rosser, Chapter 4: “Gender Equity in the School to Work Movement: Reinforcement of Race, Class, and Gender Stereotypes.” P. 68-80
  • Read Thom: “International Efforts through Beijing + 5” 24-27
  • Women and Science – Global perspective

 

Week Eight

  • Read Rosser, Chapter 5: “Feminist Critiques of Science as Usual.” 81-101

 

Week Nine: PANEL PRESENTATION: WOMEN ENGINEERS

 

Week Ten

  • Read Rosser, Chapter 6: “Applying Feminist Theories to Women and Science Programs.” P. 102-114

 

Week Eleven

  • Writing Assignment Three
  • Read Rosser, Chapter 7: “Evaluating Family Friendly Interventions.” 115-135

 

Week Twelve: PANEL PRESENTATION: WOMEN IN MEDICAL FIELDS

  • History of Male bias in Medicine and Medical Research
  • Women in the Waiting Room and the Exam Room
  • History of Women in Medicine

 

Week Thirteen

  • Women and science in popular culture including science fiction
  • Writing Assignment Four
  • Read Rosser, Chapter 8: “Dangerous Times: Threats to Female Friendly Science Posted by the New Right and Tight Fiscal Resources.” P. 136-142.

 

Week Fourteen

  • The future of women in science
  • Final Project Presentations
  • Read Thom, “Conversations about the Future.” 98-112

 

Week fifteen

  • Final Project Presentations

 

Final’s week
Assignments

 

Assignment 1. --Where Are Women in the UW System?

 

For this assignment, you will use printed information about the UW Colleges, along with your observations.  Use the UW Colleges telephone directory and the UWC catalog, as well as observations about

space and location, to find information about the position of women (especially women in science) at the UW Colleges.  For example find the percentage of women who are classified as “Instructional and Academic Staff”, “Assistant Professor”, “Associate Professor”, “Professor”.  Compare the percentages by field.  Compare the highest degree obtained by the people who teach science courses.  Compare the percentages of women teaching sciences who have a Ph.D. with the percentage of men who have the same.   Also, if you are taking any science courses, figure out the percentage of women in the class.   Compare these percentages among the different science classes you/your friends are taking/have taken.  Describe and analyze your findings in a 3-5 page word-processed paper.

 

This paper is worth 25 points. 

 

Assignment 2--A Women and Science Course

 

Evaluate the syllabi for various courses on women and science in Women's Studies Quarterly and any syllabi that you find on the web.  Develop a syllabus for a Women and Science course.  Include your proposed syllabus and assignments, and attach any additional explanations.

 

This paper is worth 25 points

 

 

Assignment 3--A Visit to the Mall

 

For this assignment, you will spend an hour or so making observations at any local mall.  You should be as unobtrusive as possible;  for example, don't take notes while you are inside of stores.  If you go to the mall with someone else from class, you should split up inside the mall to make separate observations.

 

Make all of the following observations and write up your results and conclusions.

 

  1. Visit a toy store.  Look at the dolls.  Who appears to be the target market?  Look at the various types of toy trucks and cars.  Who appears to be the target market?  What color packaging is primarily used for the dolls and the trucks?  What personality characteristics and roles are promoted by the dolls and trucks?

 

  1. Visit a video arcade.  Count the number of male and female customers in the store.  Check out the various games.  What types of things are the game characters doing?  Are the game characters predominantly male or female?  Play one of the games.  Describe the game and your response to playing the game.

 

  1. Visit a music store.  Compare the portrayal of men and women on the covers of cds or tapes.  What types of music are women most likely to perform?

 

  1. Visit a greeting card shop.  Compare the birthday cards for boys (including those for son, grandson, nephew, etc.) to those for girls (including those for daughter, granddaughter, niece, etc.).  Compare the birthday cards for mother and those for father.

 

  1. Walk through the mall and compare the number of stores that have only men's apparel with those that have only women's apparel.  Do you notice any differences in clothing stores directed at males and those directed at females?

 

  1. Visit the Food Court area of the mall.  Note the number of male and female counter workers and managers. Do you notice any differences in male and female employees of food stores?

 

  1. Select one other type of store or area of the mall.  Note the gender differences you observe, if any.

 

     Describe and analyze your observations in a 3-5 page word-processed paper.  In your description, be sure to include the day and time that you went to the mall, as well as the names of the specific stores that you visited.  In your analysis, you should discuss if and how gender

influences the mall, and, therefore, our experiences.

 

This paper is worth up to 25 points

 

 

  Assignment 4--Analysis of Images of Female Scientists in Popular Movies

 

For this assignment, you will watch a popular movie that has a fairly major role of a female scientist.  Describe and analyze the portrayal of the female scientist in a 3-5 page

word-processed paper.  In your analysis, you should incorporate your readings for this class, as well as other appropriate scholarly literature.  You should also feel free to consult movie reviews.

 

 You can certainly watch movies with others from the class, but each person must write an independent analysis.  A list of suggested movies from different time periods is listed

below.

 

This paper is worth 25 points and is due at the beginning of class on Monday, October 16, 2000.

 

Suggested movies:

 

Congo

Contact

Gorillas in the Mist

Jurassic Park

The Lost World

Medicine Man

The Net

Outbreak

The Saint

Sphere

Tears of the Sun

Twister

Volcano

 

Assignment 5—Gender-bias in the class room

 

For this assignment you will observe a video of a science class.  Watch carefully and identify any instances of potential gender-bias in the way the teacher works, the teacher-student and student-student interactions.  As members of a group, identify possible changes that the teacher and the students can undertake to address these biases.  Then re-enact (for the Women and Science class) the “reformed” class session incorporating the recommendations.

 

This assignment is worth 25 points.