Reading Connection #2

“Gender, Science and Modernity in Seventeenth-century England,” by Ruth Watts raised a great question of where were all the women during the scientific revolutions? Also, did they find ways to become part of the Scientific Revolution or were they fully excluded? Watts pointed out that women were excluded from the Royal Society and were not able to seek out education. Only middle-class and upper-class women were allowed to have education which may suggest that upper-middle class women may have been part of the Scientific Revolution. When talking about the Scientific Revolution we mainly talk about men and what their accomplishments were which makes me wonder why women are not talked about. In my opinion, because women had minimal rights and were seen as traditional where they cooked for the family and cleaned the house, that it made historians believe that there was no way women could have been part of the Scientific Revolution. Also, if women were uneducated compared to the men then how could they have the same kind of thinking or even come up with the ideas that men in the Scientific Revolution came up with. The only time women were talked about in the seventeenth century was when there were the witch trials. Mostly women were seen as witches.

In an article that I had read named “Yesterday and Today: The Top Women Scientists” by Jen Meadows, suggests that women may have participated in science by naming all of their ideas and thoughts through a males name. Just so their thoughts would be looked at. In the article she lists many women scientists ranging from the 1700’s to today. Today, women are equal to men, whereas in the past women were looked down upon, and had a hard time trying to get them to be seen. Seeing that women were part of science in the 1700’s shows that maybe women were starting to have more rights and were more educated whereas in the 1600’s women had to hide and were uneducated compared to men.

Works Cited

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

Meadows, Jen P. "Yesterday & Today: The Top Women Scientists." Weblog post. Scientific Blogging. http://www.scientificblogging.com/i_can_get_science/yesterday_today_top_women_scientists .