A World Without Women: The Christian Clerical Culture of Western Science

Noble begins by wondering why women have had so little role in science throughout our history, and traces this to the exclusively masculine religious orders that dominated research and scholarship until modern times. As science became a divinely inspired activity serving God and the church, it was obvious that only sanctioned members of the religious orders could take science in the direction that carried out God's plan. This eliminated the laity, but it also eliminated all women, even those actively involved in religion. If a woman did engage in scientific activity, such as the chemistry needed to produce medicines, that was branded witchcraft because it was seen as coming from outside of the holy scientific order.

That said, this is show more not a piece of feminist writing, but a fascinating study of how scientific development in the middle ages and beyond was directly connected to the religious scholarly institutions of the time. If you wonder why science developed as it did, this book has some of the answers and is a great read. show less