Gender in Science and Technology

The book contributes to the knowledge about the role gender plays in scientific research and the development of new technologies. It provides methodological expertise, research experiences, and empirical results from a very dynamic and multifaceted field, feminist science and technology studies. In each of its chapters it connects, on many levels, insights from gender studies and science and technology studies. It aims to translate and link knowledge from gender studies produced in the humanities, social sciences, and cultural studies to gender studies in the life sciences and material sciences as well as in mathematics and engineering. But more than this, the book seeks to enhance knowledge for the reflection and practice of scientific research and technological innovation by investigating its gender dimension. It shows how gender has to be reflected in manifold critical ways in order to overcome gender hierarchies, exclusion practices, stereotypes, and other epistemic, ethical, and political problems. The first section analyzes gender in the design processes of new technologies. The authors inquire how new technologies can be developed to foster equal opportunities for all genders. What role does cultural imagination play in innovation processes? The contributions show that there is no `one best way` for a feminist design of new technologies but that there is the possibility to take gender into account in a theoretically reflected and methodologically systematic way in order to counteract problematic gendering. The second section of the book discusses gender in epistemological foundations of science and technology. How is gender framed as a phenomenon constituting epistemic problems to do research on? On which conceptual paths do cultural assumptions about women and men enter research on humans as well as on organic and non-organic entities? How is it possible, as scholars and engineers, to analyze hidden assumptions about gender, to reflect on guiding norms and stereotypes? How to redirect research questions, experiments, methodologies as well as methods of data interpretation? Can we invent gender differently? The third section is dedicated to reflecting un/equal conditions for participation in science and technology. How do traditional assumptions about women and men set limits to collaboration in fields of engineering? How do prevailing gender stereotypes influence the performance of individual women and men in science and technology? Which role do professionals play in this scenario and how can gender stereotypes be overcome in teacher education? Because our culture has been structured for such a long time by this changing but powerful entity, there is a capacious mix of experiences, beliefs, and interpretation practices about gender by many scientists and engineers who are not necessarily aware of its impact on their practice of science and technology. This book was written especially for those students and scholars of science and engineering who are ready to learn about methods and strategies to develop research and innovation serving all genders and enable to collaborate on equal terms.