Commemorating 40 Years

Anniversary Meeting of the Commission during ESHS Brussels 2022

During the lunch hour on Friday, September 9, the Commission on Women and Gender in History of Science, Technology, and Medicine commemorated the 40th anniversary of its founding in 1981. We invited founding members and past officers of the Commission to offer their recollections and comments. Sally Gregory Kohlstedt and Margaret W. Rossiter, the coauthors of the resolution that created the commission (and Rossiter then becoming “chairman”), gave statements remotely through synchronous videoconferencing, and other officers who were present, including past president Annette Vogt, offered comments in person. Further statements by Pnina Abir-Am (founding member), Soňa Štrbáňová (founding member and past conference host), Ida Stamhuis (past president), and Maria Rentetzi (past president) were read in absentia. Below are excepts from the videorecordings and the full written statements that our founding members and past officers agreed to share.

Historical Reflections on the Commission

For more about the history of the Commission, see History.