Woman in Science Dbq

Woman in Science DBQ
Women during the seventeenth and eighteenth century were barely acknowledged for their participation in scientific research by the scientific community. Mostly due to the fact that science has been majority of times a male field of study over the centuries and there was a certain shame for women who chose to work in the scientific community. Because during the time period a women’s place was in beauty and household work. Reactions and attitudes to women working in the scientific field varied from persons to persons, but majority of the times they were negative. Men’s attitude was that women were inferior and women’s attitudes towards other women working in the scientific community were that, it was out of place for their gender. However, there were some positive attitudes towards women working in the scientific community.
Women many times were excluded by men from the “higher circles” of science in the scientific community during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries because most men’s attitude towards the time was that women were only capable of certain “trades”, such as housework and beauty, and that they also lacked the knowledge to learn about science. Others were excluded because attitudes of the time thought that woman were incapable of science and inferior. Samuel Pepys, an Englishman, wrote in his diary in 1667 that the Duchess of Newcastle, the author of the book entitled “A World Made by Atomes”, wished to be invited to the meeting of the Royal Society of Scientists. She was allowed to attend after a great ordeal of debate between the other guests, many of whom argued against her coming to the gathering. Pepsy ends his entry by writes that “The Duchess hath been a good, comely woman, but…” and proceeds to address his negative opinion about the “Duchess” appearance. Pepsy clearly misses the point of her presence at the dinner. She was not there to look pretty, but to learn. Pepys was likely to be more honest because he was writing...