Reading Connection #2

The Scientific Revolution was a time of change and discoveries. But while learning about this time we see that all the books that were written and the ideas that were found where found by men. So the question arises where were all the women during this time? Well after reading Ruth Watts article “Gender, Science and Modernity in Seventeenth-century England this question was answered and the fact that we do not see ideas that women come up with during this time is sadly not surprising. The reasons that we do not see women’s work on science during this time is first they were not able to get the same education as men, they were not able to join the Royal Society for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, and this time period had that highest number of witchcraft trails so women who tried to impute the ideas on science would have been see at witches. But there were still some women that were able to get around this. Two that were mentioned Lucy Hutchinson and Aphra Benn they were able to do this by translating books and adding notes thought out with there own ideas.

Even hundreds of years later in the world of science today women are not equal to men. In the New York Time article "Women in Science: The Battle Moves to the Trenches" by Cornelia Dean we see that even thought more and more women are moving into the field of science and medicine they are not getting equal amount of funding as males in the same position as them. Because of the less money they are getting women also publish less works them men. It is also a lot harder for women to get jobs in these field then it is for men. Although I was not surprised that during the Scientific Revolution women had a hard time entering the world of science I am surprised women are still not even close to being equal to men in today's world of science.

Works Cited

Dean, Cornelia. "Women in Science: The Battle Moves to the Trenches." New York Times 19 Dec. 2006.

Watts, Ruth. "Gender, science and modernity in seventeenth-century England." Paedagogica Historica. 2005. 41, 1, 79-93. ISSN: 0030-9230.