What is the purpose of an anthology of science writing? [The Questionable Authority]- PR Place

What is the purpose of an anthology of science writing? [The Questionable Authority] 0comments

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published in 2009-12-07 05:20:00

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Sheril Kirshenbaum and DrHGG recently wrote posts expressing their disappointment at the selection of authors that Richard Dawkins included in the Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing. Neit ...

Sheril Kirshenbaum and DrHGG recently wrote posts expressing their disappointment at the selection of authors that Richard Dawkins included in the Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing. Neither of them was pleased that only three female authors were included in a book that featured 83 excerpts of writing by scientists.

Dawkins explained in a comment left on Sheril's post why the numbers worked out the way they did:

It is a collection of writing by good scientists many of them dead and very distinguished. I am not one of those who thinks men are genetically better equipped than women to become distinguished scientists. Presumably for other reasons it is a regrettable fact that the great majority of distinguished scientists of the past 100 years as measured by Nobel Prizes Fellowships of the Royal Society numbers of science publications etc have been male. That imbalance and not an imbalance in my preference or my choice is what is reflected in the anthology.

Dawkins response does not seem to have pleased everyone - or possibly anyone - who was unhappy at the extreme gender imbalance. It certainly didn't please Tara Smith:

I call shenanigans. First Dawkins also claims that he is "...not one of those who thinks men are genetically better equipped than women to become distinguished scientists." Therefore he must know that it's other factors that have led to larger numbers of men than women in the top ranks of the scientific enterprise--one of these factors being a nasty feedback loop. Women lack role models in the upper echelons of science leading more of us to think that perhaps this isn't the place for us which is reinforced by examples such as this anthology. While Dawkins may not support such an attitude his incredibly male-dominated collection and his "too bad so sad that's just the way it is" response to this criticism reinforces this conclusion.

Reading the critiques Dawkins' response and the comments that have been left on the various posts so far I can't help but wonder just what the people involved in this discussion - particularly Dawkins and his defenders - think the purpose of an anthology of science writing is.

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