The book "Women and science"
For this project, my choice fell on the book "Women and science" written by Gérard Chazal and published in 2015 by Champ Vallon editions. This essay explores the reasons for the exclusion of women from the scientific field and analyzes the mechanisms that led to the Matilda effect.
More than an oversight, an exclusion
Gérard Chazal, Women and science, February 17, 2015, Champ Vallon
Gérard Chazal demonstrates that the absence of women in science is not due to chance or a lack of competence, but to deliberate mechanisms of exclusion. For centuries, women were denied access to education and scientific institutions. When they succeeded in breaking through, their work was minimized or attributed to their male colleagues.
The book analyzes the historical, social, and cultural causes of this exclusion. It shows how stereotypes and prejudices have shaped our perception of science as a male domain, and how these representations persist today.
Book excerpt
"The history of science is often written as if women had never contributed to it. Yet they were there, in laboratories, in observatories, in libraries. But their names were erased, their discoveries attributed to others. This denial is not an accident: it is a system."