Perceptions and Realities

Abstract

Our perceptions influence our attitudes and actions, and nowhere in human history is this more evident than in how men view and treat women. Aristotle wrote in the fourth century Bc that “the female condition must be looked upon as a deformity....” Pericles’ ideal woman was “... she who is least talked of among men, whether for good or bad.” What has happened in the intervening centuries? Has some evolution in thinking taken place?

A catalog of beliefs and perceptions: male scientists’ views of female scientists; female scientists’ views of other female scientists; male administrators’ views of women scientists; female administrators’ views of female scientists; female scientists’ views of administrators; graduate students’ views of female scientists; public perceptions of women scientists.