Women in Engineering Forum challenges conceptions of biology and gender

The Women in Engineering Forum was attended by both men and women for the first time last week as Professor John Dupre gave an insightful lecture.

Exploring our conceptions of sex and gender and the misguided way we rigidly think of these terms, Professor Dupre's talk examined how we culturally represent humanity and the pre-determined pathways we use from birth for sexual differentiation.

As a philosopher of science, biology in particular, and Director of the Centre for the Study of Life Sciences at Exeter University, John has a keen interest in developing our understanding of life as dynamic at all levels. He also considers living things - genes, cells, organisms - as more fundamentally processes, maintained in relatively stable conditions by yet further processes.

It was within this framework that he discussed our cultural styles of sexual differentiation and the problems caused by our propensity to assign traits according to gender.

Our cultural norms will see a baby set out on typical gender pathways (either male or female) through traditional processes that stabilise gender, for example the assignment of favourite colours for infants, either blue or pink.

Professor Dupre argues that this differentiation is prevalent throughout life and that biological simplifications tend to ignore the strong environmental influences and developmental processes that play a far bigger part in determining gender-specific stereotypes.

This notion of gender stereotypes was debated openly at the last Women in Engineering forum, and here it was explored further as the audience discussed how human behaviour is defined by social context.

Whether change can be achieved in our understanding of this cultural dynamic remains to be seen, but the next Forum will continue to explore the processes that underpin it.