1970s Feminism Research Paper

Women have been discriminated against for centuries, always looked down upon by society. Even today, women are still considered the lesser sex. Only in the late 1970s did feminists begin to have an influence on the theories and practices of science and technology. During the 1970’s women who were involved with science were able to make themselves known and respected. This was possible for them because of their major contributions to science and also the second wave of feminism. The first wave of feminism occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This movement emerged from an environment of liberal, socialists politics with the goal of providing more opportunities for women. It started at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention

The women of science did extraordinary research and were able to find ways to treat diseases that were believed to be incurable. Gerty Cori studied the effects of X rays on the skin and on the metabolism of body organs while working alongside her husband in Buffalo. She was also responsible for the development of the quantitative analytical methodology. Both her and her husband, after years of research, explained how mammals get their energy for heavy muscular exercise. Cycle of carbohydrates was known as the Cori cycle and had a profound effect on treatment of diabetes. Barbara McClintock, a Nobel Prize winner, researched chromosomes and how they carry hereditary elements in the nucleus of the cell. In the beginning of her researched, she worked with fruit flies and corn and experimented with those. Of all the advances in genetics, one of the greatest was the discovery that X rays enormously speed up rate of mutations. Because of this theory, McClintock was able to discover that X rays break plant’s chromosomes[. . .]surprised to see the chromosomes mend themselves. She called this process breakage-fusion-bridge cycle and discovered genetic transposition with “moving chromosome parts called transposable elements, or jumping genes. She built on other scientists work to benefit her research. Other scientists had started to build upon

They created many inventions and theories that scientists, over time, improved and developed to keep the ideas up to date. They were able to make create a base theory for others to work on and improve because they stayed determined despite the prejudice against women in science during the late twentieth century. Women had made a huge impact in scientific discoveries in the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, women have been more and more involved in sciences. In 1973, only 4,300 women were employed in academia however by 2010, 42,800 were employed. The numbers in 2010 were ten times the numbers in 1973. Unfortunately, despite the increasing numbers of women with science and engineering degrees, gender representation in the academy remains uneven, with men still outnumbering women at all faculty levels. In addition to getting women into science, we should be sensitive to cultivating changes the newcomers propose. Changes might come at several levels. We are already seeing dramatic institutional changes. As the twenty first century progresses, the number of women involved with the sciences will hopefully increase and women will make their mark in the science