Chapter 1 Setting the scene: A perspective on the contribution of women to scientific and technological advancement

Whether like the sociologist, Herbert Marcuse, or the novelist Simone de Beauvoir, we see technology primarily as a means of human enslavement and destruction, or whether, like Adam Smith, we see it primarily as a liberating promethean force, we are all involved in its advance. (Freeman, 1974, p. 15)The initial idea informing this first ISBE Book Series was sparked by the proliferation of policy and research focused upon (a) the minority status held by women in scientific activities and discoveries around the world, (b) identifying and addressing some persisting personal, professional and institutional barriers that have continued to prevent women from entry and progression within the scientific fields and (c) attempting, but without much success, to find solutions to fix the leaks in the various joints of the so-called science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) pipeline in order to remedy the current situation.