I contributi delle donne alla scienza: ieri e oggi (Margherita Hack 2000)
The history of women in culture and civic life has been a history of exclusion until the end of the nineteenth and much of it until the middle of the twentieth century, almeno nei paesi industrializzati. In molti paesi in via di sviluppo, salvo rare eccezioni, le donne sono ben lontane non solo dall'aver raggiunto la parità con l'altro sesso, ma anche dal vedere loro riconosciuti i più elementari diritti di esseri umani. Quali possono essere le cause di questa situazione che risale indietro nei secoli? Forse già nelle epoche preistoriche, la forza fisica necessaria per sopravvivere, le numerose gravidanze e il lungo periodo di allattamento e di cura della prole hanno portato alla differenziazione dei compiti. Oggi, i progressi della scienza e della medicina, e le conseguenti applicazioni tecnologiche hanno annullato la condanna biblica - uomo lavorerai con fatica, donna partorirai con dolore - almeno nei paesi industrializzati. For centuries, women could have access to education were the ones locked up in convents. Maybe that's why women have emerged in the past were mostly human, painters, writers, poets, scientists but very rarely. In fact, those who have artistic or literary talents can emerge even without specific training, and science, and in particular the so-called "hard" sciences such as mathematics and physics require basic training, without which it is almost impossible to move forward. Consequently, the women, not from universities, scientific excluded from education, have emerged where they could emerge. Thus arose the notion that women would be more suitable for materials literature and languages \u200b\u200bthan to those of science. The girls growing up in the midst of these prejudices and influence if they leave, and chose the humanities also against their natural inclinations, thus contributing to strengthening the prejudices themselves. I have been lucky enough to have a family in which father and mother were perfectly equal, we divided the tasks in full equality, and that I have never imposed any conduct or toys linked to gender stereotypes. So I think that the family environment in which I was lucky enough to be born has been extremely important to give me confidence in my ability, and not to feel an inferiority complex that I have often seen in co-workers of my generation and even more young people. Despite the great progress made by women, there are still significant disparities in employment, politics and research. In politics, as everyone knows, the under-representation of women in the House of Representatives and the Senate. The government of the municipalities are still a minority women mayor, while the Departments of Culture are often assigned to women, which makes me think of how little importance maliciously politicians still tend to give the culture, regarded as a significant center of local power. But rarely is affirmed women's right and duty of men to divide the 50% family care, from the most humble to the most important, although the family law gives women the opportunity to claim that real equality. He's young women to educate their peers and young men to encourage their partners to succeed in life. However I believe that the growing number of women established in science, politics, sports, and in all fields of human activity so far failed to provide those models to girls and that can give them confidence and encouragement to match.
