Feminism in Asimov

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I, Woman: Gender Roles in Asimov's I, Robot Even though the women begun uniting their forces for the advancement of their gender in the nineteenth century, the movement did not gain momentum until the twentieth century. Not only did women gain the right to vote, but they also merged their forces to focus on social aspects, seeking gender equality. However, regardless of the progress women have made as a class, they are still viewed as less valuable than men are, and in some cases they are paid less money for performing the same job a man would. Women have tried to represent this relationship through several artistic avenues, yet in some cases their polemical nature obstructs them from obtaining the results they seek. Contrasting the idiosyncratic notion, which dominated the twentieth century, that technological progress would bring an era of social improvement in all sectors, in I, Robot Isaac Asimov explores how the dynamics of gender role remain stagnant regardless of the current impression of advancement. Asimov's I, Robot is connected through the stories of Robopsychologist Dr. Susan Calvin, who stands alone and assertive in a male dominated field. Although her position entails the notion of technological advancement as it relates to men, either through plot development or interaction between characters, Dr. Calvin is constantly seen as less relevant by the men with whom she works. In the beginning of the sixth chapter, General Kallner explains to Susan that she was not informed of a modification of the first law in a dozen Nestors, because "no one was to know except the top men directly concerned"(115). Even though Dr. Calvin is the head of her department, this passage clearly illustrates how she is not considered to be in the same category as her male counterparts, like Dr. Bogert who had been informed of the alteration prior Dr. Calvin. Although Susan

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