科技的性別政治／性別政治的科技－科學工藝博物館典藏研究的一個可能方向

The Gender Politics of Science and Technology

林崇熙

《科技博物》 2卷1期 (1998/01) Pp. 71-85

https://doi.org/10.6432/TMR.199801.0071

並列摘要

Our culture is changing fast and social activities are becoming more diverse even as tremendous strides are being made every day in science and technology. The outstanding R&D and exhibition potential of the National Science and Technology Museum are virtually unlimited. The R&D as currently proposed is based on the following considerations:
* Making a record of the development of local cultures for use as a resource in determining the pulse of local life.
* Search out the special qualities of local science and technology to show the local and cultural nature of scientific development.
* Reflect the intellectualism and creativity of scientific and technological development.
* Display the role of science and technology in society in order to understand the structural limitations on a single person.
In view of the above considerations, the National Science and Technology Museum's R&D efforts will be more than simply chronicling ”almighty science” and ”wonderful technology” and ”great inventions”. It will be an examination of the true nature of ”individuals” and the significance of culture against the backdrop of scientific and technological development. This will allow it to critique the development of science and technology, rather than blindly outlining a record of the development. This article is an attempt to use this thought structure and ”gender” as an entry point, to examine ”action and rights”, ”body and knowledge” and other concepts to discuss the cultural nature of science and technology and their place in creating some kind of relationship with rights under the pulse of society.
As far as the National Science and Technology Museum is concerned, if R&D does not take ”people” and ”society” as the focus of its efforts it will be all too easy to get hung up on ”great achievements” and ”progress” in its work. To be sure, scientific and technological development cannot be viewed apart from the network of society, and scientific and technological products are not merely tools that we can take or leave as we please.
By the time we get used to a piece of science and technology it is usually already a part of our daily lives. For someone who spends a great deal of time writing articles with a computer, reading email messages and surfing the internet, a power outage means much more than simply fumbling in the dark for candles. It is a ”forced vacation” as disastrous as bus and rail strike is for the inhabitants of a large city. With science and technology playing such a large role in our daily lives, they are also a part in the distribution of rights in our life; ”gender and rights” is thus a very appropriate viewpoint from which to observe the cultural nature of science and technology.
If research of science and technology collections can use ”gender and rights” as a point of consideration, it can also look at ”transportation tools” to come up with an image radically different from conventional ”transportation” reports. In reviewing efforts by women to escape domination by the ”first sex” during the last few centuries, one important angle has been whether or not such action has been ”spontaneous”. Do women have the right to go out and get an education? Can they venture farther afield in search of a good job? Is it all right for them to arrange their schedules independent of their husbands' habits? These topics all address the interlocking cause and effect of ”action” and ”rights”. In this way of thinking the meaning of ”transportation tools” shifts from the traditional ”transport” toward the area of ”rights”.
In the area of ”body and knowledge” we see a shortage of female research personnel which has put women at a disadvantage because of the predominance of male researchers.
Once a nation gets involved in the area of ”the body”, women are not left alone to decide what they will do with their bodies. Instead they are at the bidding of male-dominated ”knowledge” even if a lot of the ”decisions” are actually uttered by women. From sexuality, birth control, pregnancy, childbirth, nursing and post-natal recovery to how to raise a child, all of the scientific and technological information-for example, the devices used in birth control-reflect male-dominated ”knowledge” over the way women feel and act toward their bodies. In this arena of ”gender” and ”knowledge”, science and technology are certain to play a very important role.
Whether in industry, agriculture of business or even the service sector, ”automation” has been a consistent theme in progress. This holds true for the home as well. The many home appliances that have been invented are all supposedly intended to ease the burden on the busy housewife. In fact little has changed in the assignment of duties in the home, and the wife's taking on of outside employment simply means that the husband helps out with a few household chores. At any rate advances in homemaking technology have largely served as an excuse for a male-dominated society to demand that the woman do double duty at home and in the workplace even though there has been little change in the inequality of rights. Under these circumstances all these appliances should be viewed as ”responsibility adding” rather than ”labor saving”.
If the National Science and Technology Museum's collections, research and exhibitions focus merely on the ”enlightened history of achievement” or personal discovery or ”advanced science and technology” while failing to gain a deep understanding of the cultural nature of science and technology, they will find it hard to reflect deeply upon science and technology itself. The ”gender” angle in research provides a significant entry point into the discussion of ”knowledge and rights”. This way knowledge and objects in science and technology appear in an entirely different light from the traditional point of view, and the National Science and Technology Museum should pursue this line of action in order to make a more meaningful contribution in its research efforts.