Why there Are Less Women in Philosophy: a Blind Spot and Its Explanations

Abstract

Quantitative data show a remarkable underrepresentation of women in philosophy in most career stages. This paper reviews briefly some of the hypotheses proposed to explain the gender gap. Then, the problem is philosophically considered in two aspects: what philosophy is, so that there are less women than in other fields in the Sciences and Humanities; and what women are, so that there are proportionally less philosophers than, for example, biologists or physicians. As the prevalent mental prototype for “philosopher” is a man, a gender-neutral conception entails to overcome any remaining misogyny in the practice of the profession, as well as the individualist assumptions about philosophical creativity, which neglect many interactive achievements in which there is no neat individual authorship.