Author: Thembi Bongwana
Affiliation: University of the Western Cape
Country: South Africa
Title: (Un) doing progressive science: Probing Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity at SAAO
Gender inequality in science is a widespread phenomenon which in the most obvious distinct ways men and women are treated differently. Astronomical spaces are naturally concerned with the technical, objective, and provable and rarely try to make sense of meanings around social justice concepts which include gender, equality and inclusiveness. These are thought to be not “scientific” nor to add any value to the science enterprise. Using a feminist qualitative approach, and drawn from my Master’s Thesis, my research employs a gender lens in exploring and mapping ways in which better science could be produced and current models enhanced through use of interdisciplinary methods, in particular, gender studies. I present the nuances around gendered dynamics, attitudes, ideologies, values and knowledge systems that exist within astronomy and astrophysics institutions paying specific attention to the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). I reveal the implicit and explicit ways in which SAAO spaces and practices are gendered and hierarchized, and the extent to which ‘astronomy as a specific discipline within science’ remains highly masculinized, and subsequently exclusive to some whilst marginalising and excluding certain bodies within the space, at times in very symbolic and covert ways. By focusing on studies on power, feminist critiques of science and institutional culture in other South African sectors, especially higher education, the study deconstructs a field that has been relatively neglected in South African feminist studies of gendered institutional culture. My findings are transferable and could be applicable to other astronomical institutions.