What does Gender have to do with Physics?

Physics is often seen, by Physicists not the least, as objective and we believe we are surrounded by a “culture with no culture”.

At the same time our history, classes and board rooms are often dominated by a certain group of men. This is a paradox that should awaken the curiosity of anyone.

In this talk I will give some examples on how you can approach the question in the title. There have been several studies of Physicists, and I will combine a discussion of these with some general theory and personal experiences, to paint a picture on how gender transgresses Physics, like all other fields.

By using the levels of change introduced by Schiebinger, I refer to studies of e.g. Anthropologists, Sociologists and Psychologists. The bias against women and minorities, since Science is stereotypically male, combined with the “myth of meritocracy” and the “Hercules”-culture could be key to understand the lack of women in the field.

The talk is intended as a translation of results from recent (and historical) progress in Gender Science to an audience of non-experts in the field, especially people Physicists. The aim is to give some answers to the question in the title, but also to show that this is an extremely interesting and active field of research.