Finkbeiner test

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The Finkbeiner test is a checklist proposed by journalist Christie Aschwanden to help journalists avoid gender bias in articles about women in science. To pass the test, an article about a female scientist must not mention:

  • The fact that she’s a woman
  • Her husband’s job
  • Her child care arrangements
  • How she nurtures her underlings
  • How she was taken aback by the competitiveness in her field
  • How she’s such a role model for other women
  • How she’s the "first woman to..."[1]

Aschwanden formulated the test in an article in Double X Science, an online science magazine for women, on March 5, 2013.[2] She did so in response to what she considered was a type of media coverage of women scientists that:

"treats its subject’s sex as her most defining detail. She’s not just a great scientist, she’s a woman! And if she’s also a wife and a mother, those roles get emphasized too."

Aschwanden created the test in the spirit of the Bechdel test, which is used to indicate gender bias in fiction. She named the test after fellow journalist Ann Finkbeiner, who had written a story[3] about her decision not to write about the subject of her latest article, an astronomer, "as a woman."[1]

The Finkbeiner test was mentioned in the media criticism of the New York Times's obituary of rocket scientist Yvonne Brill. That obituary, published on March 30, 2013, by Douglas Martin, began with the words: "She made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job and took eight years off from work to raise three children".[4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Brainard, Curtis (22 March 2013). "‘The Finkbeiner Test’ Seven rules to avoid gratuitous gender profiles of female scientists". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 31 March 2013. 
  2. ↑ Aschwanden, Christie (5 March 2013). "The Finkbeiner Test: What matters in stories about women scientists?". Double X Science. Retrieved 31 March 2013. 
  3. ↑ Finkbeiner, Ann (1 March 2013). "What I’m not going to do: Do media have to talk about family matters?". Double X Science. Retrieved 31 March 2013.  Originally posted at: "What I’m Not Going to Do". The Last Word On Nothing. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013. 
  4. ↑ Gonzalez, Robert T. (31 March 2013). "The New York Times fails miserably in its obituary for rocket scientist Yvonne Brill". io9. Retrieved 31 March 2013. 
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