Women in Science Dbq

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Women in Science Women were rarely acknowledged if they chose to participate in scientific research during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This was mostly due to the fact that science had been a majority of times a male field of study over the centuries. Women were thought to be incapable and stepping out of their place of beauty and housework. Mostly negative reactions and attitudes were given to women that chose to work in fields of science. Many men had an attitude of superiority and most women judged the women working in sciences negatively. However, there was some acceptance from men and women of females working in the scientific community. Women frequently were excluded by men from scientific study in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries because the attitude of the time was that women had only certain traits they could possess skill in, such as housework and beauty, and they lacked the intelligence to learn science. In document 3 Samuel Pepys, an Englishman, wrote in his personal diary that the Duchess of Newcastle, an author who wrote a book entitled "A World Made by Atomes", wished to be invited to the meeting of the Royal Society of Scientists. He ends his entry by saying that “The Duchess hath been a good, comely woman, but…” and proceeds to describe his negative opinion of her appearance. Similarly in document 13, a Gottingen newspaper article reported that those women who learn the higher sciences have neglected their clothing and their hair will be done in an antiquarian fashion. The article expresses the opinion that women who gain skill in science are not proper women. This isn’t just the view of the author of the article which is being expressed here, because a newspaper would be very likely to report with mind to the opinions and attitudes of the audience which reads it. In document 10 Johann Junker, a head of an
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