Naslov
Approaches, Problems and Findings of Social Studies on Women in Science

Autori
Prpić, Katarina

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
Women in science: Is the glass ceiling disappearing?

Mjesto i datum
New Delhi, Indija, 08.03.2004. - 10.03.2004

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Pozvano predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Nije recenziran

Ključne riječi
gender differences; women scientists; scientific career; social organisation of science; scientific community; scientific performance; scientific productivity

Sažetak
Sociological approaches to studying entrance, position and performance of women in science differ in their theoretical frameworks, in their methodology and in their findings. Three main approaches can be identified: the traditional sociological or Mertonian approach, the social constructivist approach and feminist approach. Mainstream constructivist orientation in STS shows no interest in gender differences in science, according to an analysis of the main journals and books of that orientation published in the eighties. An opening of the gatekeepers in STS towards women studies can be traced in periodicals in the nineties. On the other hand, traditional sociology of science, especially Merton´s school of thought, did show a great interest in sex differences in science, so that studies on women scientists became a quasy-specialty. Sex differences in science that they found, the Mertonians were apt to minimalise or to atribute to the wider society, since they perceived social system of science as meritocratic. Although feminst science studies have contributed to the sensibilisation of the academic and wider public for gender equality theme, they are too preocuppied with epistemological issues, theoretical discourse and academic segment of R&D. Moreover these studies lack the systematic empirical research into gender differences in science. Up to now, studying gender differences in science has been focused on three main research problems: A) entrance of women into scientific carreers ; B) the position of women researchers in social organisation of science ; C) women´s scientific performance. A) The entrance of women in R&D careers is expressed by a picturesque metaphor - a leaking pipeline. There are two main indicators of restrictive accessability of the scientific careers to women. The first is a typically sociological indicator - women with elitist social background are most likely to become scientists. The other indicator is a classical one - the under representation of women in R&D. The huge differences in gender representation in science in contemporary world do not utterly follow regular and easily interpreted patterns. B) The glass ceiling is another popular metaphor indicating the invisible barriers to professional advancement of women researchers. Various sociological studies, whatever their approach was, found considerable gender differences in academic promotion (ranks), in collegial recognition, in distribution of the resources, in influence and power distribution within research institutions and in scientific communities, in researchers´ salaries. C) Gender differences in publication productivity showed not to be neither as big nor stable as J.Cole and H. Zuckerman had perceived them, even in the same country, let alone the results of empirical studies in other scientific communities and socio-cultural milieus. The factors that could explain gender differences in scientific productivity are traditionally sought in family obligations of women researchers, while the social organisation of science has been rarely seen as a possible generator of productivty differences! To conclude, a new broader theoretical framework and a lot of systematic empirical investigations, especially international comparisons, of the three main research problems are needed in future sociological studies on women in science.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Sociologija

POVEZANOST RADA