Scientific Pioneers: Women Succeeding in Science

by Joyce Tang

Overview

This book critically examines the career development of female scientific pioneers. Drawing from existing biographical and ethnographical data, author Joyce Tang analyzes the life and career histories of ten extraordinary female scientists—Marie Curie, Irene Joliot-Curie, Margaret Mead, Barbara McClintock, Maria Goeppert-Meyer, Rachel Carson, Rita Levi-Montalcini, Dorothy Hodgkin, Rosalyn Yalow, and Fay Ajzenberg-Selove. The author explores the personal, political, cultural, and economic factors that led to the success of these women. Scientific Pioneers proposes that for a woman to be successful in science not only requires perseverance and talent, but also structural opportunities, institutional support, and conscious decision making.

Scientific Pioneers is an important addition to the growing literature about women in science, the sociology of science, and the dynamics of discrimination. This analysis of female scientific pioneers is an invaluable resource for both public policy debates and research on inequality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761833505
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	02/16/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	190
Product dimensions:	7.14(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.59(d)

About the Author

Joyce Tang is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Queens College of the City University of New York. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. She is an accomplished author with numerous published journal articles and the book Doing Engineering: The Career Attainment and Mobility of Caucasian, Black, and Asian-American Engineers published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Table of Contents

1 List of Tables 2 Preface 3 Scientific Pioneers 4 Why Aren't There More Females Scientific Pioneers? 5 Origins: Individual Attributes 6 Development: Structural Opportunities 7 Reaching the Top: Institutional Forces 8 The Contradictions of Norms 9 What Lies Beneath? 10 Endnotes 11 Bibliography 12 Index 13 About the Author

Editorial Reviews

....their lives and careers become the subject of a sociological analysis that highlights how the norms of the scientific community, specifically its emphasis on merit and the importance of gatekeepers (almost exclusively male) have been barriers to women's recognition....The author concludes with a chapter on what the future holds for women in science, granting that many of the institutional obstacles that discriminated against women have now been removed, although cultural and ideological forces that discriminate still remain. A scholarly book with an impressive bibliography, ample documentation, and a detailed index.Summing Up: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students.

Choice Reviews - M.H. Chaplin

....their lives and careers become the subject of a sociological analysis that highlights how the norms of the scientific community, specifically its emphasis on merit and the importance of gatekeepers (almost exclusively male) have been barriers to women's recognition....The author concludes with a chapter on what the future holds for women in science, granting that many of the institutional obstacles that discriminated against women have now been removed, although cultural and ideological forces that discriminate still remain. A scholarly book with an impressive bibliography, ample documentation, and a detailed index.Summing Up: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students.--M.H. Chaplin, Wellesley College "CHOICE "

From the Publisher

....their lives and careers become the subject of a sociological analysis that highlights how the norms of the scientific community, specifically its emphasis on merit and the importance of gatekeepers (almost exclusively male) have been barriers to women's recognition....The author concludes with a chapter on what the future holds for women in science, granting that many of the institutional obstacles that discriminated against women have now been removed, although cultural and ideological forces that discriminate still remain. A scholarly book with an impressive bibliography, ample documentation, and a detailed index.Summing Up: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students.
— M.H. Chaplin, Wellesley College

Choice