Written by Emily Locke
"Science is not going to be the main subject, unfortunately. As a male scientist, I have a feeling of discrimination when I am here, in the climate that this meeting is being held." This statement by Kurt Wüthrich at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting 2023 was met with deep indignation and sparked heated discussions about sexism in science. Wüthrich, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in 2002, complained that the event in Lindau focused on diversity and spoke of a hostile environment for men. For example, for a group photo of the prizewinners, the women were placed at the front, which would have discriminated against all the men present. At this point, it should be noted that only five of the 39 invited speakers were women [1].
Fortunately, Wüthrich's statements were not left uncommented. A courageous young female scientist from the audience spoke up: "As a female researcher, it’s been very uncomfortable for myself to see a Nobel laureate talking about so-called male discrimination. There might be individual discrimination toward men, but it is nothing compared to the systematic and structural discrimination that women have to face, especially in the STEM fields." [1] This young woman has hit the truth quite well: No country in the world has yet achieved gender equality and, particularly in science, the representation of women is still low [2, 3]. On International Women's Day 2024, we take a look at the ongoing struggle of female researchers for recognition and the achievements of some outstanding female scientists.
A short Journey through Time: The Role of Women in Science through the Centuries
The fact that women are hardly represented in the traditional history of science does not mean that they have made no contribution to the study of nature. Women were already creating new knowledge in the fields of medicine and chemistry in ancient times, and many of the active members of the mathematical and philosophical schools of thought in ancient Greece were female. In the European Middle Ages, researchers were divided by gender for the first time and female science was relegated to nunneries. The reason given for this change was that women would distract the male clergy from their Christian way of life [3].
Women were not admitted to the universities of the modern era, so that science was centered in a small academic circle from which women were institutionally excluded by an extensive gender segregation in the education system [4]. The socially accepted idea at the time that women were subordinate by the will of God justified the education of girls and women, which was limited to educational and domestic tasks (see quote) [5].
Thus, the whole education of women ought to be relative to men. To please them, to be useful to them, to make themselves loved and honored by them, to educate them when young, to care for them when grown, to council them, to console them, and to make life agreeable and sweet to them—these are the duties of women at all times, and should be taught them from their infancy.
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Émile or On Education. Stuttgart 1963, p. 733.
From the late 19th century onwards, women in many countries were gradually admitted to academic qualifications for scientific work, although this privilege was initially only granted to a few women from the social elite [6]. Finally, in the 20th century, universities were completely opened to women - a crucial victory after the long struggle for access to higher education [3]. However, conservative roles continued to shape society, making it difficult for women to advance in academic professions [7].
The unknown Heroines: The Matilda Effect
Despite the obstacles placed in the way of women, many important findings can be traced back to the research work of female scientists. The fact that these are often ignored in the history of science can be explained by the Matilda effect. This effect, named after the American women's rights activist Matilda Joslyn Gage, points to a patriarchal history of science. It describes the systematic suppression and denial of the contribution of women in science, whose work is often attributed to their male colleagues [8].
Rosalind Franklin, a British biochemist and specialist in X-ray structure analysis, was also a victim of the Matilda effect. She made a significant contribution to the elucidation of the double helix structure of DNA, as this could only be detected by James Watson and Francis Crick using one of her X-ray images [3]. The two men were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1962 - they did not mention Franklin at all in their Nobel Prize speech [9].
In addition to Franklin, numerous other female scientists were affected by the Matilda effect, including Lise Meitner, who was one of the first women to earn a doctorate in physics at the University of Vienna in 1906 and was appointed assistant to Max Planck at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Berlin in 1915. Here she met Otto Hahn, with whom she researched radioactivity for decades and discovered nuclear fission in 1938. This groundbreaking discovery was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics - but Otto Hahn received it alone [10]. Although Meitner was nominated for the Nobel Prize a total of 49 times in her lifetime, she was denied this award [11].
Women and the Nobel Prize
Unfortunately, the missing out of women in the awarding of the Nobel Prize seems to be a trend: Among the total of 970 laureates who were awarded the highest recognition between 1901 and 2023, there are only 65 women (6.7 %) [12]. With her Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903, the Polish scientist Marie Curie was the first female prizewinner ever. Together with Henri Becquerel, she discovered the radiation properties of certain substances and subsequently identified, isolated and characterized the elements radium and polonium. In 1911, she was again awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. This made her not only the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize, but also the only woman to date to be awarded a Nobel Prize several times for her scientific achievements, and even in two different disciplines [3].
At the last award ceremony in 2023, there were also several women among the winners. One of them is the Hungarian researcher Katalin Karikó, who, together with Drew Wiessman, received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her research on RNA-mediated immune activation. Her groundbreaking results enabled the therapeutic use of mRNA and thus formed the basis for the rapid development of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines. She is also one of the few women honored in her field: "I have heard that I am only the 13th woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Maybe it will inspire more women, more young people. I hope so." [13]
The Battle has not yet been won
Since the cultural revolutions of the 1970s, working conditions for women in science have improved, the proportion of female scientists in academic leadership positions has increased significantly in recent decades and many universities have institutionalized programmes for the advancement and equality of women [3].
But has the goal of gender equality in science already been achieved? A look at the current situation in Germany gives the answer: women are still significantly underrepresented in the field of research and development, with their percentage reaching only 29.4 % in 2021, one of the lowest numbers in the EU. In the research departments of German companies, the proportion of women was particularly low in 2021 at just 15.6 %. Their representation is significantly higher in the higher education sector (41.4 %) and in the public sector (38.3 %) [14]. Despite this, the gender ratio has barely changed in the last decade - so there is still a lot to do!
On International Women's Day 2024, Biomol warmly greets all the women who keep the labs in research, industry and clinics running. Cheers, ladies!
Sources
[1] https://www.science.org/content/article/nobel-laureate-claimed-antimale-discrimination-early-career-researcher-called-it-out, 29.02.2024
[2] https://www.bmz.de/de/themen/feministische-entwicklungspolitik, 29.02.2024
[3] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frauen_in_der_Wissenschaft, 29.02.2024
[4] Monique Frize: The Bold and the Brave. A History of Women in Science and Engineering. University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa 2009, S. 61–62.
[5] Christine Meyer: Erziehung und Schulbildung für Mädchen. In: Notker Hammerstein, Ulrich Herrmann (Hrsg.): Handbuch der deutschen Bildungsgeschichte. Band II: 18. Jahrhundert. Vom späten 17. Jahrhundert bis zur Neuordnung Deutschlands. Beck, München 2005, S. 188–212.
[6] James C. Albisetti: Mädchen- und Frauenbildung im 19. Jahrhundert. Klinkhardt, Bad Heilbrunn 2007, S. 43–61.
[7] Gisela Notz: „Mit scharrenden Füßen und Pfiffen begrüßt.“ 100 Jahre Frauenstudium in Deutschland. In: BdWi-Studienheft. 8, Dezember 2011, S. 10.
[8] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda-Effekt, 29.02.2024
[9] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin, 29.02.2024
[10] https://www.geo.de/wissen/21043-rtkl-weltfrauentag-zehn-wissenschaftlerinnen-die-sie-neben-marie-curie-kennen-sollten, 29.02.2024
[11] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Meitner, 29.02.2024
[12] https://www.innovative-frauen-im-fokus.de/infopool/daten-und-fakten/gender-award-gap/frauenanteil-nobelpreis/, 29.02.2024
[13] https://www.tagesschau.de/wissen/nobelpreis-medizin-mrna-forschende-100.html, 29.02.2024
[14] https://www.destatis.de/Europa/DE/Thema/Wissenschaft-Technologie-digitaleGesellschaft/FrauenanteilForschung.html, 29.02.2024
Preview Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hahn_and_Meitner_in_1912_(cropped).jpg, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Marie_Curie_c._1920s.jpg, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rosalind_Franklin_(1920-1958).jpg
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