In the sociology and history of science, the harem effect refers to a phenomenon whereby a male scientist in a position of power hires a "bevy of female subordinates, competent but less threatening than an equal number of bright young men.[1]" While there are numerous historical examples of this phenomenon and the practice may continue today, two examples of this phenomenon stand out in the literature. Erwin Frink Smith, a USDA plant pathologist, hired more than twenty female assistants at the agency to study various agricultural problems in the late 19th and early 20th century.[2] Edward Charles Pickering, astrophysicist and director of the Harvard College Observatory, assembled what became known as “Pickering's Harem”—an all female staff of a dozen or more to assist in his research programme to gather and analyse stellar spectra.[3]
Margaret W. Rossiter, Women Scientists in America: struggles and strategies to 1940 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982).
