The “Cult of Masculinity in the Age of Heroic Science,” I was fascinated by Jardins’s secondary explanation for the lack of women’s visibility in science. We’ve already discussed women being more accepted in “softer” sciences and dismissing women’s accomplishments as inherent to their organized and patient nature but taking a closer look at the masculine construction of heroism in science and why women were not able to fit that mold in the post war period. Some scientists, most notably physicists, were ironically portrayed as competitive, brave, and strong, a stereotype which usually does not attach itself to “nerdy” scientists. Even Einstein, who was by no means a hypermasculine man, found himself the face of a masculine brand of genius, epitomized by “pure science” which women could never excel in, since they must also concern themselves with the home. Jardins goes on to mention that the perception of women’s roles in science was as the caretaker of the male scientist’s bodily needs, making me think of the idiom “behind every great man is a great woman.” This phrase simultaneously explains how women were supposed to support the man (in the home, but of course not the type of wife who “expected him home every evening at five or five-thirty) and how women were so easily overlooked in their own scientific accomplishments. These successes were often attributed to men and the women faded into obscurity.
This pervasive stereotype ensured that even in 1957, the ideal scientist was a man to both men and women. It is scary to think that women were not only invisible to the public, but also to each other. Now, many male dominated fields put a lot of effort into putting women into contact with each other so that even if the women feel overwhelmed in their workspace, there are online forums and annual conferences which can connect them to women in similar situations. It is hard to imagine how disheartening it would be to be an aspiring female scientist who believes that she is one of the only women going into that field. Makes it easy to understand why many women were deterred by this stereotype, along with many other institutionalized factors we’ve learned about.
