Sexism Towards Women in Atomic Theory and Scientific Development Throughout the Ages

The accusation that science is an essentially misogynistic discipline has been repeated so often it's become a cliché. Sexism against women in science is still prevalent today. Women in atomic theory and scientific development face a greater struggle than men do when it comes to receiving recognition for work. '... think of Dorothy Hodgkin, the brilliant crystallographer who mapped the structure of penicillin and went on to be awarded in 1964… she remains the only British woman to have won a Nobel in the sciences… at the time, the newspapers carried headlines such as ‘Oxford housewife wins Nobel'.' (Iqbal, 2015). Hence, this piece aims to address the sexism and gender inequality amongst male and female scientist throughout the development of science and the atomic theory until modern day.

Around 400 B.C., Democritus - who was a Greek philosopher - proposed an unproven idea; that matter was made up of tiny, indivisible particles, which he called 'atom'. Even though Democritus initially brought the idea to light; it wasn't until the nineteenth century when John Dolton was the first to recognize and adapt Democritus' theory into the first atomic model. Dolton's discovery provided a foundation for the modern atomic theory. Thus, resulting in a snowball effect, sprouting new discoveries and theories thereafter. However, all recognised theories from John Dolton, in the 1800s, until James Chadwick, in the 1900s, were discovered by men. Hence it can be assumed that this was due to immense sexism towards women throughout that era.

From kitchens to corsets, it was expected of women to be a stay-at-home wife while men worked, i.e. the role women played in the 1800s was to take care of the house, children, and husband, to cook, clean and make sure the home was peaceful and organised when the husband returned from work. Mothers then passed this on and taught their daughters how to take care of the household from an early age. Further, in marriage, the husband owned the wife. Thus, the nature of women in the 1800s can be described as submissive towards dominating men, restoring the alleged natural hierarchy of the sexes.

The sexist history of women in atomic theory and scientific development still bears fruit today. In a recent study done by the Pew Research Center, it was reported that women still experience discrimination in many forms. Funk (2018) says that women in STEM jobs report an array of experiences together with being treated as if they weren’t competent (29 percent); earning less than a male colleague for doing the same job (29 percent); and receiving less support from senior leaders than a man in the same position (18 percent). 78 percent of these women have at least experienced one of these types of gender discrimination and half of this group feel as if they must work harder to succeed in their job. All these experiences contribute to why it is so hard for women’s work to be recognized.

Upon research, I was unable to find any female scientists’ contribution to atomic theory and only a few who contributed to scientific development. Hence it is clear that structures of masculine hegemony are still rampant in science and the workplace. Due to the constant development in technology, it should become easier for newer theories to be discovered by both men and women. It would take many years and more before underlying prejudices and stereotypes towards women in science come to an end. We still have a long way to go.