Gender in Science and Technology. Interdisciplinary Approaches

What role does gender play in scientific research and the development of new technologies? This question has been asked from many different angles. This book 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 second section of the book discusses gender in epistemological foundations of science and technology. The third section is dedicated to reflecting un/equal conditions for participation in science and technology.