Miehinen tekniikka ja naisen luonne

naiset tekniikan opiskelijoina Suomessa 1879-1939

Authors

• Johanna Vähäpesola

Abstract

Masculine technology and female personality: Women as technology students in Finland 1879–1939

The first women had started their studies in the Polytechnic Institute in 1879. In 1908, the institute got university status and the name was changed into Helsinki University of Technology. There were no formal obstacles for women to study technology, but technology still stayed a very masculine field throughout the beginning of the 20th century.
From the male point of view, technology, however, started to be feminized, and in the 1930s there was a vivid debate in the student magazines about women’s aptitude for the technological field. Technology was believed to require the kind of mental qualities that women inherently did not have. Because of this, women were thought to manage their studies not by the means of their skills, but relying on their diligence.
Architecture and chemistry were considered suitable fields of technology for women, because within these women were believed to be able to use their female virtues. Women acting in the field of technology made the environment to label them with masculine features, but they also had to actively adopt manners and dressing habits that were considered masculine in order to adapt to the masculine culture.