The Matilda Effect
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Meccano sets are not just for
boys! Here’s
me with mine! Girls can do mechanics! #WomenInScience
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Yesterday, February 11th,
was International Day of Women and Girls in Science, with observances for it continuing
into today, such as the 5th international day of women & girls in science
assembly. As always, I “pledge to end the gender imbalance in science”1,
as the UN Secretary-General António Guterres rightly encourages everyone to do.
Another important call to action for this International Day, and all year
round, is the urgent need to “remove all barriers that hold” women and girls “back”2.
One way I would like to do this,
is by discussing in this blog post what the Matilda Effect is, and how sexism
has impacted on women researchers’ theories and explanations.
The Matilda Effect highlights the
sexist phenomenon of men dismissing women’s research by belittling and
suppressing their prestige and research, whilst often misattributing their
theories and explanations to men. It is a term coined by Margaret Rossiter in
1993 and draws on the essay "Woman as Inventor", written by the suffragist
and abolitionist Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826-98). Such sexist discrediting of
women’s research has the knock-on effect of generating biased contras against
their theories and explanations and writing them out of history. The Matilda
effect contributes to the severe lack of gender balance in science because it
skews our perception of women’s achievements to the point where science (and
indeed academia and intelligence in general) is seen as a male domain:
““If you believe the history
books,” notes the Timeline series The Matilda Effect, “science is a guy thing.
Discoveries are made by men, which spur further innovation by men, followed by
acclaim and prizes for men. But too often, there is an unsung woman genius who
deserves just as much credit””3
There are numerous examples of
women’s research conclusions, theories and explanations being denied and suppressed.
Ten such female researchers to commemorate for International Day of Women and
Girls in Science and celebrate all year round are Franklin; Lederberg; Meitner;
Stevens; Burnell; Wu; Merian; Anning; Leavitt. All these women suffered huge
obstacles and prejudice, irrespective of their era, qualifications, academic
positions, and despite their ground-breaking research conclusions and theories.
All these women had their research misattributed to a male colleague or their
husband.4
Back in the 17th
century, Merian’s original research on rare insect metamorphosis was “dismissed
by scientists”, not helped by the fact that she didn’t write up her research in
Latin, considered “the designated language of science”5. (Spinoza
most likely also wrote his treatises in Latin in an attempt to avoid biased
dismissal of his work by fellow scientists and philosophers, in his case,
because he was Jewish, commonly being referred to as ‘the Jew’ by other
intellectuals. Similarly, three centuries later, the credit, citation, prestige
and appreciation of Meitner’s research was lost due to anti-Semitism
compounding sexism during the Nazi era.) Undeterred, Merian undertook an “unofficial
expedition” in 1699, resulting in her book Metamorphosis Insectorum
Surinamensium6.
Here are some wonderful examples
of her work:
Indeed, she was an Entomologist
before the field of study even existed:
As we now famously know, Franklin’s
“manuscript was dismissed as merely confirming her male colleagues' discovery”7
when, in fact, it was her theory in the first place. This gender bias inverts
the whole concept and method of confirmation in science – Franklin’s image
showing the structure of a molecule was the empirical evidence itself which provided
confirmation for the DNA theory, which was her theory! She had already confirmed
her own theory, not someone else’s.
It’s high time to start
acknowledging and celebrating women’s research, not just in science but in all
academic fields of research!
2ibid
4 for further reading
see:
6ibid
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