She is an Astronomer.....

[Astro_Baby]

She is an astronomer - God how I hated that phrase from the International Year of Astronomy - it sounded like She is a Nurse/Secretary/Something Girly and should get back in the kitchen and leave telescopes to the men grrrrrrrrr.

They should have asked me and I woulkd come up with something a bit more raunchy 'FemAstro - Its not about the size of your instrument' perhaps

Anyway - unreconstructed feminista here and I just wondered seeing so many new starters who were women what got you girls into this hobby ? How do your other halves see it ? Do they have an interest themselves ?

Just feminine curiosity really Alright I am nosey

[AndyH]

I've never understood why it seems to be a male dominated hobby.

Andy.

[Astro_Baby]

With all the women joing recently maybe it isn't LOL

[Psychobilly]

This got me thinking.. and googling...

Women Astronomers

Billy...

[Astro_Baby]

Well you see something that attracted my attention recently was Hornby Railways. They do a thing called 'Livesteam' which is basically a Hornby HO/OO locomotive which uses real steam (electric trainsets are for sissies you see )

The marketing manager of Hornby was on a radio program and said the biggest upstake for it (and these things are a lot of cash) was women Now I am a bit of a feminist at heart (though not a militant one) and even I was surpised by that. The guy at Hornby had no idea why women wouild be buying into miniature steam locomotives but speculated that they needed patience and a kind of nurturing.

Astro requires similar virtues. At the risk of seeming sexist I am just curious what brings other women to astronomy as a hobby.

For me its bound to my past and my relationship with my father but its also an outlet for my technical skills (by the way I used to sew as a hobby and I still cook as a hobby) but Astro gets me out of the house and in the fresh air and, if I keep the 10" scope I am going to be looking like a female body builder )

[Psychobilly]

Hmmm "livesteam".... better not show the OM that... very nice..

Just found out he already knew...

[Beulah]

I'm a girl and have always been drawn to male-dominated hobbies. I would also like to state that I believe men and women have different complimentary strengths that make up the whole. (call me an equalist?)

Not because I am trying to prove something, I can pin it down to something my Dad said the other day that made sense...he told me that I was raised in a "gender-neutral" environment.

I guess what he is saying is that although there were Barbie dolls, pretty dresses & toy washing machines around, I also had plenty of lads toys as well, and was able to learn BASIC on the ZX Spectrum at the age of 10. He was afraid to force conventional cultural expectations on me. I thought he was a great man and his interest in astronomy really affected and inspired me.

These days, it's tough holding your own in such an environment but it is well worth it, I really cannot stand girly girly stuff.

[JamesM]

I think part of the answer lies in one main difference between men and women (apart from the obvious ) and that is that women are generally more inclusive by nature, where as men seem to be more solitary.

Psychologists have looked at gender differences by studying how children play and found that boys showed a strong individual predisposition to decide what everyone else 'was' going to do, whereas the girls were more likely to share and so would 'suggest' what they might do. To me this would suggest that activities which require a group effort might appear more attractive to women due in part to the high socialisatio aspect, whereas men might be more inclined to pursue interests that are more solitary and where their own decision making and satisfaction can be enforced.

Astronomy for many, be it imaging or observational, appears to involve periods of isolation at some point. I know many women who observe but rarely do so on their own and typically practice this interest within observing groups and clubs. I have yet to come across a man that never observes on his own.

I'm not sure if I truly know begin to know the answer to this one, but other interests like fishing, be it fresh water/angling is the same, and it must be something to do spending time by yourself that some how men find it easier to do rather than women.

(...having said that, you've got to remain quiet when you're fishing:D:D:D:D:D Where's my hard hat?)

James

[JamesF]

Perhaps the gender bias is just a reflection of the general bias that exists in the "hard" sciences and engineering?

I don't understand why that bias exists in the first place, mind.

James

[Astro_Baby]

Sam thats interesting becaue my own father was what might be called gender neutral as well. Without making this thread a psychoanalysis thread on me in a nutshell I had an older brother. My brother and dad spent ages doing stuff like motorbikes, fixing cars etc. I guess I wanted to be included in it. I never got on with my mum at all and always yearned for a daughter to have the sort of relationship I never had.

Anyway - my brother was killed quite young and dad focused all of his attention on me. He couldnt stand weak women (perhaps because my mum was so strong we never got on - being a bit of a large personality myself) anwy dad focused all of his considerable knowledge onto me - by the time I was sixteen I could fix a car engine, handle a lathe (badly I'll admit), fix almost anything that worked in the first place and even halp dad build a 50' boat from scratch.

I guess like you Sam I am drawn to male dominated hobbies but I can still be Barbie with an interest in nails - I dont see any inconsistency in that. I guess my ideal would be Ripley from Alien. Tough enough to squirt aliens with a flamethrower and fly a spacsehip while pinning up her hair .

I remember when that film came out and it was considered daring in its day to have a woman who was that strong on screen.

[Ags]

Everyone I know, men and women, seems to have at least some interest in astronomy. Maybe they're just being polite...

I've made sure my youngest relative gets some stars and planets slipped in between the flood of barbies and pink princesses she is drenched in. She's 3 and she recognizes pics of Saturn.

Based on my my own horrible experiences, I abhor gender-based behavior. The last time I bought nail polish was to make a red light torch.

[pete_l]

Personally I don't think it matters too much whether astronomy attracts more men or women. The important thing is to do what we can to make sure than people (of any gender etc.) have the same opportunities to take up astronomy if they choose to.

If we were to start saying that it's bad for there to be such an imbalance, not just for astronomy but for any hobby, there's an implicit value judgement that your favoured hobby is "better" than whatever the other people spend their time doing.

Just so long as they all have a choice - that's the important point.

[Astro_Baby]

Actually we are drifting off the topic here a bit (my fault as much as anyone elses) which was not a man.v.woman thing or even an equal ops thing- I was more interested in what draws other women into astronomy as a hobby.

[eriwig]

I would say I have always been interested as much in boys toys as girls ones. Being an only child my mum and dad were happy to go along with whatever interested me whether that be She-ra or Scalextric and I never remember being told "that's not for girls"..

I loved building things... and taking things apart... just generally understanding how things work. I guess it was only a quick hop into the world of physics and astronomy as I tried to work out how we all fit into the wider universe and what makes the earth tick.

My hubby is an engineer by trade and so he has similar interests although he has always left looking up at the sky to me. I think the main reason he bought me my telescope is so he can sit inside in the warm house with his Warhammer miniatures while I stand outside freezing finding interesting things for him to come and occasionally look at

[Ags]

I have always loved the stars. They're so beautiful, remote, and utterly different in reality to their appearance (unstable, boiling balls of gas vs twinkly little points). And I admire the dedication it has taken to build up our knowledge of the skies over centuries from nothing but faint starlight.

As a kid I wanted to travel to the planets, but now I have more sense of self-preservation! I'll settle for my telescope taking me 220x closer.

[shaula]

It's beautiful up there. I love being in the peace & quiet (not a girly girl and enjoy being on my own) & being stood in one place yet being totally lost up there at the same time - excellent!!! Always worked in male dominated environments (driving instructor etc) no issues for me & so it seems for most of us on here. I put myself on various astro courses as a precursor to my OU Geosciences degree (astrobiology/ astrophysics was a large part of it) which got me totally hooked & no looking back.

Claire

[kidlands]

Although my wife is quite happy to come and have a peek at whatever I'm jumping around at veiwing for the first time, she has noooo interest in the hobbie.

She can often be heard mocking me asking if I have been on that forum talking to my 'moomin' friends.

steve

[shaula]

Although my wife is quite happy to come and have a peek at whatever I'm jumping around at veiwing for the first time, she has noooo interest in the hobbie.

She can often be heard mocking me asking if I have been on that forum talking to my 'moomin' friends.

steve

Brilliant! 'moomin' ha ha ha

Don't you just hate it when someone bursts your bubble by looking into said scope & says 'I don't think I can see it properly it's just a blur' or 'it's black & white, where's the colour?' or 'oh, is that it...?' or 'it's just dots in the sky, can't see the interest myself' cheeky buggers!! ya gotta larf!!

[Beulah]

Some interesting posts here.

[Ags]

It's beautiful up there. I love being in the peace & quiet (not a girly girl and enjoy being on my own) & being stood in one place yet being totally lost up there at the same time - excellent!!! Claire

Second that - the happiest times last year involved me glued to the EP watching Jupiter. I miss that planet!

[Photosbykev]

My better half has zero interest in most of my hobbies. She hates the outdoors, she hates the cold, she certainly loves her sleep far more than looking through a telescope, she tolerates my photography.

She is my perfect other half

[lulu57]

I was brought up to be curious about stuff.

I am curious about history, literature, science, astronomy, music, nature, geology, philosophy...blah, blah, blah...

The thought of being interested in just one thing is frankly tedious to me.

ps I am also very interested in girl stuff. Make-up is lush. But it never stopped me having a scale extric when I was little.

pps It was probably getting tipsy on a sunlounger in France, under a glorious night sky that got me into this hobby.

[Nick P]

Interesting thread this, I have three daughters and a wife ALL of whom are interested in what I am looking at, we all watch astro programmes on the TV and point out objects we have seen, and just recently even my Mum has been showing an interest (and she's 79!)

Yesterday I got my Dad to help stripping my newtonian OTA to fix the finder scope properly and then got him to colimate it as he'd never touched a scope before, and we had a thoroughly good time doing it! My Mum wanted to know when she could get to use it, then started discussing the finer points of finder scope use!

I think that sums the answer to the question up for me - My Dad and I like the tinkering and learning aspect first followed by the views (the 'look I made it work' syndrome), and My Mum, wife, and daughters like the views primarily followed by the tinkering and learning!

[Altair]

I just think my natural curiosity and wonder brought me into astronomy - as I love nature wildlife the countryside - As a child, it just seemed an extension of what i was already interested in. I spent many happy times alone exploring the fields around where I lived just being alone with nature. I guess thats difficult for children to do nowadays! I just feel so sorry for people who do not have the time or patience to stand and stare..

[Karen]

The cosmos just fascinates me and I cant see it from the kitchen.

I am just the only one in the family interested enough to buy a telescope and get a closer look. Wow that makes me an astronomer or should that be astronomeress!

I just love stargazing especially with unpolluted skies and preferably somewhere warm like a Greek island.