The Invisible Women of Science and Technology   by Susmita Barua

In 2005 a great uproar among men and women in academia ensued after the Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers suggested that "intrinsic aptitude" could explain why fewer women have excelled in science and math. This article would refute that assertion. Historical knowledge as we have been taught in schools is often a lopsided account of "His Story", the story shaped by the few men in power at the time. Women representing half of humanity did not share equality with men within the same social class and culture, except during pre-recorded and unwritten oral cultural days of ancient civilization in Egypt and perhaps during Pre-Vedic and early Vedic times in India (before 2500 to 3000 BC approx.). Women's access to basic education, let alone higher learning was severely restricted and discouraged throughout most of the recorded history and even to this day in many developing countries.

In ancient Egypt women used to manage, own, sell private property, bring lawsuits and carry financial transaction without any male help. Marriage required no religious or legal ceremony. Women like men could divorce for any reason privately without any legal action and were free to marry again at any age. Men worked alongside women in doing housework, rearing children, attending livestock or ploughing fields. Women kept the property rights of any dowry. Husband's deeded property to wives (even if divorced), because children inherited property through mother after divorce or father's death. Egyptian society was matrilineal and there were well over four dozens of references of women pharaohs who ruled Egypt from the very first to twenty second dynasty. Only a few like Queen Hatshepsut, Nefertiti and Cleopatra are commonly known.

Early Vedic literature mentions great women scholars and philosophers (known as Brahmavadinis), such as, Vac, Ambhrni, Romasa, Gargi, Khona, Maitrayee, and Lopamudra. Women, who so desired could undergo the sacred thread ceremony or "Upanayana" - a sacrament to pursue universal knowledge. Marriage was considered a joint partnership and the marriage vow was described in Rig Veda (Taittiriya Ekagnikanda I iii, 14) as: "Having paced the seven steps, we have become friends. May I retain thy friendship, and never part from it (Sastri 1918)." From Paleolithic times to beginings of ancient civilization, diverse images of the Goddess abound everywhere from India to Western Europe, without any male cult figure. It is a historical and anthropological mystery how the face of God and the entire human civilization changed from the feminine to masculine.

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