Sexual Stereotypes and Stereotyping :: Feminism Feminist Women Criticism

Sexual Stereotyping: False Preconceptions and False Conclusions in Blaming Technology       In an excerpt titled "The Feminist Face of Antitechnology" from his 1981 book Blaming Technology, Samuel C. Florman explains why he thinks so few educated women in modern society are engineers.   The excerpt was written shortly after he had visited an all-female liberal arts school, Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, to convince a few young women to become engineers.   His mission failed and his essay makes clear why he had such trouble.       Florman has more than one idea as to why young, educated women shy away from engineering as a career option.   First, he notes that America has inherited much of its culture from England, where engineering has not been considered a high-class occupation.   This is apparently so because engineering did not fully separate from craftsmanship until the mid-nineteenth century.   Florman claims that most young, male engineers come from lower- and lower-middle-class families.   He also claims that most young women who are educated in math and science come from middle- and upper-class families.   For this reason, Florman explains that educated women generally see engineering as being below their social class, and therefore do not pursue it as an option.   He supports his position with a story about how Herbert Hoover, after a long conversation, told a woman that he was an engineer and how she responded,   "Why, I thought you were a gentleman!"1   Florman then turns to the fem inists and asks why they haven't taken the lead in changing this situation.         Florman's main argument against the feminist movement is that it is fueled by a greed for power.   He suggests that women, especially feminists, are attracted to perceivable power, or power which is obvious to the cultural eye.   They want to become doctors, lawyers, and politicians.   The desire for power is also intimately connected with social class, according to Florman.   He sees this as one of the major reasons as to why so few women seek out engineering: they see it as a career without power.   Florman sees women as being "a lot more interested in the privileges than in the responsibilities."   According to him, the "ultimate feminist dream will never be realized as long as women would rather supervise the world than help build it."   Until women strive to understand the technology around them, and help to create it, they will always suffer.