Feminist Science Studies -- A Selected Bibliography
Bleier, Ruth. Science and Gender: A Critique of Biology and Its Theories on Women. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon, 1984.
Bleier focuses on the role of scientific theory in defending the status quo, especially with regard to biological theories used to support cultural beliefs that women are inferior and therefore meant to be subordinate.
This collection addresses feminist methodology, feminist pedagogy, and the feminist critique of the natural sciences.
Davis, Cinda-Sue. The Equity Equation: Fostering the Advancement of Women in the Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1996.
This collection of essays, including one by advisory board member, Angela Ginorio, presents the latest data on what helps and what hinders women's success in the sciences. Unlike many publications on what contributes to women's success in the science, several articles attempt to dis-aggregate data by race and class as well as gender to begin to provide a more accurate picture of the experiences of all women students in science classrooms.
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. Myths of Gender: Biological Theories About Women and Men. 2nd ed. New York: Basic Books, 1992.
This book explores the role of cultural beliefs in creating and interpreting hypotheses about the biological basis of gender and behavior.
Haraway, Donna. Primate Visions: Gender, Race and Nature in the World of Modern Science. New York: Routledge, 1989.
This volume describes the history of research on primates, its relation to theories about women, and how these theories were affected by cultural assumptions, the sex of the researchers, and the feminist critiques of science.
Haraway, Donna. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: the Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge, 1991.
This collection of essays examines feminist struggles over the modes of producing knowledge about the behavior and social lives of monkeys and apes. It examines how narratives about "nature" and "experience" are constructed and offers a post-modern feminist ethic and epistemology.
Harding, Sandra G. Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking From Women's Lives. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1991.
This volume includes essays on feminist methodology and how we know what we know, including the social basis of scientific knowledge, and the role of individual perspective in the creation of knowledge. "I used this twice in a graduate seminar on issues in teaching chemistry, but with mixed success. The students complained that it was 'unreadable,' troubled by both the vocabulary and the complex sentence structures. I think the difficulties stemmed from disciplinary writing cultures, rather than content." —Cathy Middlecamp
Harding, Sandra G., ed. The "Racial" Economy of Science: Toward a Democratic Future. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1993.
This collection of essays about science as cultural phenomenon discusses how science reinforces cultural beliefs about racial differences, how science in the Third World depends on the First World's political agenda, and applications of science, including reproductive technology, developmental agriculture, and environmentalism. This volume also explores how science might change to serve a democratic world community.
Harding, Sandra G., ed. The Science Question in Feminism. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1986.
This edited volume contains essays on the philosophy of science. It focuses on what is distinctive about feminist research and the relationship between scientific inquiry and feminist inquiry.
Kahle, Jane Butler, ed. Women in Science. Philadelphia: Falmer Press, 1985.
This edited volume addresses the history of women in science, the current role of women in science, and obstacles women of all races face in their respective scientific fields.
Keller, Evelyn Fox. Reflections on Science and Gender. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1985.
Fox Keller offers discourses on the role of gender for both the scientist and the subject of study, and the historical, psychological and philosophical role of gender in science.
Keller, Evelyn Fox. Secrets of Life, Secrets of Death: Essays on Language, Gender and Science. New York: Routledge, 1992.
Fox Keller addresses the constitutive role of language in science. She examines the complex interconnections between gender, language and science and explores how these interconnections affect the agendas of working scientists and the accepted definitions of "good" science.
Keller, Evelyn Fox and Helen E. Longino. Feminism and Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
This edited volume collects important articles of the past few years by feminist theorists of science like Donna Haraway, Helen Longino, Evelyn Fox Keller, Emily Martin and Sandra Harding. Articles cover such issues as representations of sex and gender in scientific discourse and feminist challenges to the traditional epistemologies of science.
Laslett, Barbara, et. al. Gender and Scientific Authority. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
This anthology, co-edited by advisory board member Evelynn Hammonds, begins with gender as the theoretical focus and raises questions about scientific authority from a number of different disciplines. It addresses issues in medicine and looks at the uses of scientific rhetoric in constructing public discourses of science. Contributors include Patricia Hill Collins, Emily Martin, Lisa Duggan, and Susan Sperling.
Longino, Helen. Science as Social Knowledge: Values and Objectivity in Scientific Inquiry. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.
This book develops an analysis of scientific knowledge that reconciles the objectivity of science with its social and cultural construction.
Nelson, Lynn Hankinson, and Jack Nelson. Feminism, Science, and the Philosophy of Science, Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publ., 1996.
This anthology brings together original essays that examine the intersections of feminism, science and the philosophy of science. Contributors explore parallels and tensions between feminist approaches to science and other approaches in the philosophy of science and more general science studies. Authors explore notions at the heart of the philosophy of science, including the nature of objectivity, truth, evidence, cognitive agency, scientific method, and the relationship between science and values. Contributors include project participant Lynn Hankinson Nelson and advisory board member Karen Barad as well as other feminist scholars, including Sandra Harding, Helen Longino, and Nancy Tuana.
Ross, Andrew, ed. Science Wars. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1996.
Including several of the essays that first appeared in the controversial special issue of Social Text on the "Science Wars," authors in this anthology respond directly to the backlash against critical studies of science, including feminist science studies. These authors cover such topics as the gender-laden assumptions built into the Western scientific method, scientific claims to objectivity, the relationship between science's empirical worldview and that of mercantile capitalism, and the power exerted by the authoritative language of science in everyday life. They analyze the anti-democratic tendencies within science and its institutions and insist on a more accountable relationship between scientists and the communities and environments affected by their research. Authors include such feminist writers as Sandra Harding, N. Katherine Hayles, Ruth Hubbard, Emily Martin, Hilary Rose, and Sharon Traweek.
Rosser, Sue Vilhauer. Female-Friendly Science: Applying Women's Studies Methods and Theories to Attract Students. 1st ed. Elmsford, N.Y.: Pergamon, 1990.
These essays focus on feminist method and its role in pedagogy, especially with regard to increasing the numbers of women in science. "A classic. In contrast to some of the more philosophical texts, most 'real' scientists seem to be able to handle this book. May serve as a useful stepping stone to the more rigorous texts." —Cathy Middlecamp
Rosser, Sue V. ed. Teaching the Majority: Breaking the Gender Barrier in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering. New York: Teachers College Press, 1995.
Focusing on mathematics, computer science, and the physical sciences rather than the life sciences, this book forges new ground in gender analyses in science and includes some of the few existing feminist essays in fields such as physics and chemistry. Each chapter of this book is written by a teacher who has transformed her or his course to appeal successfully to women students. Including chapters by advisory board members Cathy Middlecamp and Karen Barad, the contributors outline revised curricula, expanded problem sets and laboratory exercises, and successful pedagogical techniques. They also introduce new intellectual frameworks that emerge when feminist analysis is brought to bear on scientific discourse. Rosser's introduction includes general recommendations for retaining women students in the sciences; a bibliography by Faye A. Chaldwell points to sources for information on feminist transformations of specific academic areas in science, mathematics, and engineering.
Rossiter, Margaret W. Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982.
In this important history, Rossiter describes the activities and working lives of a variety of women scientists. She examines how, over many decades and despite many obstacles, contributed to the growth of American science.
Rossiter, Margaret W. Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 1940-1972. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
In this sequel to her earlier book, Rossiter continues her history of women scientists in America. In this volume, she concentrates on the role of women scientists during World War II and the patriarchal structures and values of universities and industries in which women scientists struggled to make there way professionally.
Schiebinger, Londa. The Mind Has No Sex? Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991.
Schiebinger discusses the history of women's contributions to science and the historical and cultural influences that mold the course of scientific scholarship and knowledge.
Spanier, Bonnie. Im/partial Science: Gender Ideology in Molecular Biology. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1995.
Spanier's critique provides evidence that mainstream biology, contrary to being an impartial science, is in fact skewed by biases. Exploring the discourse of scientists and scientist-educators, she reveals gender biases, cultural beliefs and implicit values. Exposing the impact of sexual ideology on our thinking about "the building blocks of life," Spanier calls for a rethinking of science in the social, economic and political contexts in which it is enmeshed.
Traweek, Sharon. Beamtimes and Lifetimes. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988.
An anthropological study of high-energy physicists, this work exposes the role of science in shaping scientists' social culture and social culture's role in shaping science.
Tuana, Nancy. The Less Noble Sex: Scientific, Religious, and Philosophical Conceptions of Woman's Nature. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1993.
Tuana explores the impact of metaphysical conceptions of the nature of women on science and how those values constrain the development of scientific theories. The book also posits what a science organized on more gender-equal values might look like.
Tuana, Nancy, ed. Feminism and Science. Bloomington, Ind.: University of Indiana Press, 1989.
This edited volume contains essays about how science is affected by and reinforces sex biases and the political, social and economic values of science as a social and cultural institution.
—compiled and annotated by Debra Humphreys, Association of American Colleges and Universities
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Biographies and Autobiographies of Women in Science—A Selected Bibliography
Abir-Am, P. G. and D. Outram. Uneasy Careers and Intimate Lives: Women in Science, 1789-1979. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1996.
Ajzenberg-Selove, F. A Matter of Choices: Memoirs of a Female Physicist. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994.
Arnold, L. B. Four Lives in Science: Women's Education in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Schochen Books, 1984.
Babbitt, M. K. Maria Mitchell as Her Students Knew Her 1861-1912. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: The Enterprise Publishing Company, 1912.
Baldwin, R. S. The Fungus Fighters: Two Women Scientists and their Discovery. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1981.
Bonta, M. Women in the Field: America's Pioneering Women Naturalists. College Station, Tex.: Texas A & M University Press, 1991.
Brewer, J. W. and M. K. Smith, eds. Emmy Noether: A Tribute to Her Life and Works. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1981.
Cass-Simon, G. and P. Farnes, eds. Women of Science: Righting the Record. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1990.
Conway, J.K. Written By Herself: Autobiographies of American Women: an Anthology. New York: Random House, 1992.
Freeman, D., ed. Always Rachel: Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994.
Freeman, J. Passion for Physics: The Story of a Woman Physicist. Philadelphia: A. Hilger, 1991.
Galdikas, B. M. F. Reflections of Eden: My Years with the Orangutans of Borneo. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1995.
Gallop, N. Science is Women's Work: Photos and Biographies of American Women in the Sciences. Windsor, Cal.: National Women's History Project, 1993.
Haber, L. Women Pioneers of Science. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979.
Haramundanis, K., ed. An Autobiography and Other Recollections. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Hare, P. H. A Woman's Quest for Science: Portrait of Anthropologist Elsie Clews Parsons. New York: Prometheus Books, 1985.
Hypatia's Sisters: Biographies of Women Scientist—Past and Present. Seattle, Wash.: Feminists Northwest, 1976.
Koprowska, I. A Woman Wanders Through Life & Science. New York : SUNY Press, 1997.
Keller, E. F. A Feeling for the Organism: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1983.
Kendall, P. M. Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters and Journals. Boston: Lee & Shephard Publishers, 1896.
Kennedy, D. H. Little Sparrow: A Portrait of Sophia Kovalevsky. Athens, Oh.: Ohio University Press, 1983.
Koblitz, A. H. A Convergence of Lives: Sofia Kovalevskaia, Scientist, Writer, Revolutionary. Boston: Birkhauser, 1984.
Levi-Montalcini, R. In Praise of Imperfection: My Life and Work. New York: Basic Books, 1988.
McGrayne, S. B. Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles and Momentous Discoveries. New York: Birch Lane Press Book, 1992.
Montgomery, S. Walking with the Great Apes: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Birute Galdikas. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.
Morse, Mary. Women Changing Science: Voices From a Field in Transition. New York: Insight Books, 1986.
Northrup, H. R. The Changing Role of Women in Research and Development. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Wharton Industrial Research Unit, 1988.
Opfell, O. A. Lady Laureates: Women Who Have Won the Nobel Prize. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1978.
Patterson, E. C. Mary Somerville and the Cultivation of Science, 1815-1840. Boston: Nijoff, 1983.
Poole, Joyce H. Coming of Age with Elephants: A Memoir. New York: Hyperion, 1996.
Quinn, Susan. Marie Curie: A Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995.
Rayner-Canham, M. F. Harriet Brooks: Pioneer Nuclear Scientist. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1992.
Richter, D. Women Scientists: The Road to Liberation. London: Macmillan Press, 1982.
Ruddick, S. and P. Daniels. Working It Out: 23 Women Writers, Artists, Scientists and Scholars Talk about their Lives and Work. New York: Pantheon Books, 1982.
Sayre, A. Rosalind Franklin and DNA. New York: Norton, 1975.
Shepherd, L. J. Lifting the Veil: The Feminine Face of Science. Boston: Shambhala, 1993.
Zuckerman, Harriet, Jonathan Cole, and John Bruer. The Outer Circle: Women in the Scientific Community. New York: W.W. Norton, 1991.
—compiled by Angela Ginorio and Michelle Elekonich, Northwest Center for Research on Women
