Philosophy Discussion Forums

RickLewis wrote: Theory (psyreporter), I attended a philosophy postgrad conference in Reading, UK, about a decade ago, to take part in a panel discussion. One of the other sessions was a presentation by Dr Marianne Janack (I think) and a colleague on why there are so few women in academic philosophy departments, and indeed in philosophy in general. A lot of actual research had clearly gone into the paper. I don't have a copy of it but maybe it is obtainable from Dr Janack?

From memory, the paper said that there are a LOT of women undergraduates studying philosophy - maybe even a majority of all philosophy undergraduates. Sadly the proportion of women is steadily whittled down as they climb the academic hierarchy. There aren't quite so many female philosophy postgrads. There are an even smaller proportion of junior lecturers in philosophy, and by the time you get to professors, the proportion is very small. (Sorry I can't recall any actual numbers). This steady shift in the gender balance with academic seniority is more like that found in science subjects such as physics and chemistry rather than in other humanities subjects, where the proportion of female academics remains high at all levels. The paper examined various proposed explanations. There is the possibility that a greater proportion of women than of men drop out when they have children. There is also the more psychological explanation that when members of group A are a tiny proportion within any activity B, then new group A people joining that activity tend to feel that they "don't belong", that it isn't really for them, and have more inhibitions about pushing themselves forwards. I don't know. So structural discouragement rather the the structural exclusion you describe - though no doubt that exists too.

In terms of Philosophy Now magazine, for what it is worth, the proportion of our subscribers who are women is hard to gauge accurately but is definitely much higher than 20%. I'd say it is more like 35 or 40%. However, looking at the "letters to the editors" we receive, the proportion is much smaller - probably only about 10%. My own theory is that men are just more anxious to assert themselves in any forum. Certainly the "letters to the editor" we receive from women tend on average to be better than the "letters to the editor" we receive from men, which might suggest that women write only when they have something good to say. (No disrespect to the many excellent letters we publish which are from male readers, but they are the cream of the crop and many others aren't published due to lack of space.) Most full-length articles we receive (probably about 80%) are by men. Some of the very best articles we've published in the last 30 years have however been by women.

Rick Lewis
(Editor-in-Chief, Philosophy Now)


p.s Your list of women in philosophy links looks useful. Can I add, the Society for Women in Philosophy? (SWiP) They have several websites in different parts of the world, eg https://www.swip-ireland.com , https://www.swipuk.org and http://cswip.ca

Another ps. Theory, I completely agree with you about why it matters that women are somehow discouraged from engaging with philosophy in the same numbers as men. I don't know why women tend to specialise in (and be highly influential in) moral philosophy compared with other areas of philosophy. Is the explanation again something social or to do with philosophy's institutional structure, or with the way women are brought up to see themselves as nurturing and caring ? I don't know.

Original: https://forum.philosophynow.org/viewtop ... 90#p528290

Rick Lewis launched Philosophy Now in 1991, the first ever philosophy magazine worldwide. This new initiative facilitated a wave of popular philosophy activities in Great Britain, the United States, and elsewhere, which has since strengthened, and to the present owes much of its impetus to Lewis' work.

Lacewing wrote: I agree. Females may offer valuable perspectives that males may not be as inclined to see. The fact that gods and sages are typically identified as 'male', shows how out-of-balance we are, and demonstrates a major skewing by males for control and domination.

psyreporter wrote: ↑September 24th, 2021, 6:10 pm female-philosopher.jpg


I just heard the following in a Partially Examined Life podcast, episode 130 Aristotle's "De Anima: What is life?" (origin of life).

The sad state of philosophy today is that 80% of our audience is male and at least as many people that contact us as potential guests, are male.

Questions:

1) Is philosophy primarily a masculine study?
2) Are there many female users on this forum?
3) What are the male-female statistics with regard noteworthy philosophers in history?
4) What can explain a disparity?

psyreporter wrote: ↑September 24th, 2021, 7:27 pm Additional questions:

1) why is it important that women contribute to philosophy?
2) would it be important that women contribute equally? If so/not, why?
3) what subjects of philosophy have the most women participants? Is there a correlation visible, e.g. most women choosing subjects such as animal ethics? If so, are females excluded from specific area's of philosophy?

LuckyR wrote: ↑September 25th, 2021, 1:18 am Excellent observation. The fact that women have been historically excluded from the men's club that formal Philosophy was and is, is not a surprise. Add to it, the fact that modern female philosophers self segregate into "feminist philosophy" (as opposed to general philosophy), lowers their numbers even further.

Astro Cat wrote: ↑June 18th, 2022, 4:02 am

LuckyR wrote: ↑September 25th, 2021, 1:18 am Excellent observation. The fact that women have been historically excluded from the men's club that formal Philosophy was and is, is not a surprise. Add to it, the fact that modern female philosophers self segregate into "feminist philosophy" (as opposed to general philosophy), lowers their numbers even further.

Heh I'm as big of a feminist as they come but I remember the first time I read the words "feminist epistemology" on a screen and I was like "what the actual [expletive] does that mean"

LuckyR wrote: ↑June 19th, 2022, 2:08 am I can understand the short term "advantage" of specializing in feminist philosophy, to try to emphasize a viewpoint that is underrepresented. However, in the long term, participating in the mainstream with a minority view, does more to normalize that view, than retreating to an enclave of like-minded individuals.