
Women, minorities, and the Manhattan Project - GFK_of_xmaspast
http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2015/11/27/women-minorities-and-the-manhattan-project/
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TazeTSchnitzel
The most interesting parts of this for me were the lessons about
discrimination. First, that how we think about the Manhattan Project is shaped
by how it was reported at the time, because it was naturally written about
through the lens of that time's biases. Second, that while WWII allowed more
women to get into science out of necessity, this was sadly reversed afterwards
as the need was gone: WWII didn't end society's prejudices, it just forced it
to temporarily overlook them in some limited areas.

Food for thought.

~~~
jkot
Yes, it would be much better to have equality. Women would get drafted and
fight in WW2 alongside men.

~~~
geofft
It's a little funny to think about equality, or really _justice_ , in the
context of war. Among other things, at least in the modern US, quite a number
of US soldiers are men of lower classes and limited options who are looking at
the armed forces as a job with good pay and a good basis for a future career,
and the armed forces know that and advertise on that basis. If a draft starts,
college students and certain professionals can get deferred; working men age
18-25 get drafted. It is the very nature of income and earning-power
inequality in the US that is powering our current enlistment and would be
powering any draft. It's not really sensible, I think, to argue about whether
_this_ equality is needed when the very reason the situation exists is itself
a fairly major inequality.

That said, women's groups have historically supported extending the draft to
women. In the 1981 Supreme Court case _Rostker v. Goldberg_ , which was filed
by a group of men who opposed the gender discrimination in the draft, both the
National Organization for Women and the ACLU's Women's Rights Project filed
amici supporting them:

[http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/22/us/women-join-battle-on-
al...](http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/22/us/women-join-battle-on-all-male-
draft.html)

[https://www.aclu.org/tribute-legacy-ruth-bader-ginsburg-
and-...](https://www.aclu.org/tribute-legacy-ruth-bader-ginsburg-and-wrp-
staff)

------
nommm-nommm
When brilliant and accomplished rocket scientist Yvonne Brill died in 2013 The
New York Times opened her obituary with

 _She made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job and
took eight years off from work to raise three children. “The world’s best
mom,” her son Matthew said._

~~~
hitekker
This has since been changed and, in typical New York Times fashion, no mention
was made that the article was updated[1].

It now reads: > She was a brilliant rocket scientist who followed her husband
from job to job and took eight years off from work to raise three children.
“The world’s best mom,” her son Matthew said.

[1][http://io9.com/the-new-york-times-fails-miserably-in-its-
obi...](http://io9.com/the-new-york-times-fails-miserably-in-its-obituary-
for-464140204)

~~~
nommm-nommm
As if a reference to beef stroganoff was the only issue...

Though it is better.

The New Yorker points out the eight years off part isn't even factually
accurate, she moved to a job with more flexible hours at FMC Corporation
(involved in their work with ARPA) while still making major contributions to
the world in that capacity.

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vlehto
"As advertisements from the later period suggest, the role of the space-age
woman was as the helpful wife — not the person doing the calculations."

What the advertisement really suggests is that someone felt the need to
promote women's role as housekeepers. You can also find adds with women
smoking, which shows cigarette companies tried to get the non-smoking part of
population as customers.

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arthur_pryor
really good article in general. i thought it was worth pointing out this neil
degrasse tyson clip in particular, linked at the end to tie the discussion
back to the present day:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EkuXfsWmMo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EkuXfsWmMo)

