Discrimination Against Women as Addressed in Cantor's DilemmaIn his novel, Cantor's Dilemma, Dr. Djerassi uses female characters to address sexist issues arising from the integration of women into a male-dominated scientific world. . The characters, Celestine Price and Professor Arderly, are used to show how little voice women have in science. The female characters suggest that women are often seen as sexual objects rather than work colleagues and that they have few opportunities to combine a scientific career with raising a family. By integrating these issues into her novel, Dr. Djerassi illustrates the following theme: Discrimination against women in science harms the advancement of scientific exploration. If women are excluded from science, then an artificial limit is placed on human resources. (The scientific field will not utilize the potential female minds available.) The first problem Dr. Djerassi casually mentions is that women are not adequately represented in the scientific field. The character, Celestine Price, strongly desires a career in chemistry. She faces the challenge of charting her map of success while taking into account the male-dominated world of science. Her former high school chemistry teacher advises Célestine that if she ever wants to get an academic position at a major university, she needs to connect to the "old boys' network." He said to him: “Make no mistake. Chemistry is still a man's world. »1 Dr. Djerassi paints a picture of a boys' clubhouse with a sign on the door reading "No Girls Allowed!" » In this context, it is inferred that a woman must prove her worth before men's society gives her the privilege of working with...... middle of paper...... integration problems . If the scientific world takes advantage of still little-known female talents, science as a whole will greatly benefit. For example, the initial group of ENIAC programmers consisted of 6 women. In 1946, these women helped develop the first working stored-program computer.6 If female talent like this is wasted through social neglect, the scientific world will never know what possible discoveries could have been made with it. help of women. . If Dr. Djerassi gives specific examples of discrimination, the scientific world should take note of these problems and try to resolve them.1. Carl Djerassi, The Cantor's Dilemma (New York, New York: Penguin Books, 1989), 19.2. Ibid. 45.3. Ibid. 45.4. Ibid. 45.5. Ibid. 20-21.6. website: women in science/women in computing/women involved in the ENIAC program.