The Matilda Effect and the Great Man Theory

Rosalind Franklin - The Double Helix Structure of DNA

The year is 1869, and Cambridge University allows women to be admitted as students for the first time. The decision to accept Jews into the school was made in 1871. Nearly half a century later, Rosalind Franklin, the daughter of a wealthy and intellectual Jewish family, was a successful student who had been encouraged toward science and education since childhood; however, the male-dominated world was not yet civilized enough to tolerate successful women. Having completed her education at Newnham College, a college reserved only for women at Cambridge University, where she passed the entrance exam in 1938, Rosalind led the way in elucidating the double helix structure of DNA through her work in the mathematical analysis of X-ray diffraction diagrams of deoxyribonucleic acid. Although the research paper they published in April 1953 with doctoral student Raymond Gosling formed the basis for the papers published by James Watson and Francis Crick on the structure of DNA during the same period, the Nobel Prize was not awarded to Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling, but to Watson and Crick. Although Watson expressed years later that he wished the prize had been awarded to Rosalind, she had fallen ill due to her work in the chemistry laboratory and passed away at the age of 37.

UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS WERE WOMEN ADMITTED TO UNIVERSITIES?

During the years Rosalind studied at Cambridge, women were granted academic titles, but they were not considered part of the university with the status of noble students. Women were expected to sit in the front rows and side-by-side in classes, and female faculty members were not allowed to attend important university ceremonies. At traditional celebrations, while men wore red robes and black doctoral caps, female faculty members were expected to sit next to their husbands wearing hats and gloves.

Considering that even the Royal Society only began accepting female scientists in 1945, we can better grasp the reality of the extent to which women's scientific work and the discoveries they made at the cost of sacrificing their lives for humanity were ignored in the male-dominated world.

LISE MEITNER - JOCELYN BELL BURNELL - CHIEN-SHIUNG WU - HENRIETTA LEAVITT

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which the famous Austrian-Swedish physicist Lise Meitner, who played a significant role in the discovery of nuclear fission, largely deserved for her work, was awarded to Otto Hahn alone in 1945, despite the fact that they had worked together. Lise was in the same country at the time, and she could only watch from afar as the prize for the work to which she had dedicated her life was given to someone else.

The Nobel Prize deserved by astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967, was awarded to her doctoral advisors, Antony Hewish and Martin Ryle, instead of Jocelyn.

The Nobel Prize deserved by Chien-Shiung Wu, who disproved one of the fundamental principles in physics by showing that parity conservation does not hold in beta decay, was awarded to her male colleagues.

The work of Henrietta Leavitt, who helped us understand the expansion of the universe by discovering the relationship between the brightness of variable stars and their distances, could not escape remaining in the shadow of her male colleagues, Edwin Hubble and other male astronomers, simply because she was a woman.

WOMEN WRITERS FORCED TO PUBLISH UNDER MALE NAMES

While things were made so difficult for women by men in the field of natural sciences, it was no different in the field of literature. Patriarchal culture could not tolerate women having a presence anywhere other than their homes.

Mary Ann Evans published her books under the name George Eliot. Charlotte Brontë released her famous book 'Jane Eyre' under the name Currer Bell, Karen Blixen as Isak Dinesen, and Alice Bradley Sheldon published her books under the name James Tiptree Jr. Knowing that they would not be accepted as female writers in the world they lived in, they gave up all the desires of a writer to be recognized and known, hiding all the adventures in their world of ideas behind the names of phantom men.

WOMEN ARE EXPECTED TO BE INVISIBLE NOT ONLY IN DAILY LIFE BUT ALSO IN THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD

Whether in astrophysics, chemistry, philosophy, or mathematics, the work done by scientists has always been subjected to a gender divide. While the scientific work of men known in their fields is always brought to the forefront, the work of women has either been pushed to the background or ignored. Although we might think that this situation is better today than in the past, there are studies that prove otherwise.

THE GREAT MAN THEORY

The Great Man Theory was popularized in the 19th century by the Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle. According to the theory, the world is shaped primarily by strong and charismatic leaders or scientists who demonstrate the same power. The theory, which bestows a divine power upon man with the idea that nothing other than himself is important, has caused men at all levels to completely ignore the presence of women in every field. This theory was gladly adopted by men and has continued to the present day with a practice inherited from the past.

THE MATILDA EFFECT

Matilda Joslyn Gage, who expressed that she did not agree with the Great Man Theory by stating, "Such expressions are made either because women are underestimated or out of ignorance. Yet traditions, history, and our experiences prove to us that women possess these talents at the highest level," challenged the strong male archetypes of the period with this sentence. Matilda Joslyn Gage, a women's rights advocate, activist, and sociologist, published a pamphlet in 1870 titled "Woman as Inventor." The purpose of the pamphlet was to explain the types of obstacles that were used by men to stop the work of female scientists of that period.

The pamphlet refutes the idea that women do not have an instinctive urge to make inventions and therefore do not have the ability to conduct scientific work. About 100 years later, Margaret Rossiter published her book "The Matilda Effect in Science," based on this pamphlet. Calling the injustice women face in the scientific world a 'gender-based phenomenon,' Rossiter named this phenomenon after Matilda.

GENDER CITATION GAP AND MISOGYNY

The Lack of Citations for Women's Scientific Publications and Misogyny

Although we may think that we have come a long way since the past, the sexist effect of the misogynistic perspective on scientific publications is still felt heavily. In a study conducted by Philipp Aufenvenne, Christian Haase, and Max Pochadt, they examine how often women are cited in scientific studies. According to the results of the study, "Citation rates from women's scientific publications are nearly 40% lower than those of men," says Aufenvenne. Similar results are reached in many of the disciplines. Steinbirk points out that this invisible prejudice exists in both women and men.

Misogyny and the prejudice that women are inadequate, which have been ingrained in the subconscious of society and even scientists for thousands of years, continue to block the path of female scientists. In other words, the Matilda Effect still continues its influence as a threatening and obstructive phenomenon in front of science. Nobel Prize winners, especially in MINT categories—that is, Mathematics, Informatics, Natural Sciences, and Technology—are still mostly white men. Women struggle to be taken seriously in MINT categories starting from primary school; the perception that these fields belong to men is clearly felt in the number of female and male students at universities. This situation shows that there is still severe pressure on women and girls.

The main reason for the secondary position that women are forced into is not biological difference, but the assignment made by patriarchal traditions to the definition of women. While the inaccuracy of this assignment has been proven many times throughout the historical process, the only way to get rid of this effect is possible by removing the heavy traditional burdens and misinformation placed on girls. The fact that the potential contribution women will make to civil development is blocked means that the future of society is hindered by fifty percent, which is a major obstacle to the liberation and development of society. Because the liberation of women in every field of society is an absolute condition for the development of the country.