Scientists conduct their tests on male lab rats to avoid issues with females' hormonal cycles. But that notion is now being challengedIs the science of biology sexist? final week,in a co-written article for the journal Nature, the director of the US National Institute of Health (NIH) publicly admonished scientists for testing drugs and theories on male lab rats, or tissues and cells,while excluding females for fear their hormone cycles might distort results. Research, the authors wrote, or suggests females' cycles are no more distortionary than males'. Now all studies that apply to the NIH will be vetted for an appropriate balance of male and female subjects.
Such practices are fraction of the reason the University of Wisconsin-Madison established a new science fellowship final month to "uncover and reverse the gender bias in biology". Wittig Fellows of Feminist Biology will spend two years in the women's studies department critiquing biased research and producing new theories that "reflect feminist approaches".
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Source: theguardian.com