It Is Not Only a Matter of Biases: Identifying Organizational and Institutional Obstacles to Bring Sex- and Gender-Oriented Approaches into Biomedical Research
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60923/issn.2038-3460/21169Keywords:
gender medicine, feminist STS, feminist epistemology, sex and gender research, work and organizationsAbstract
An extensive body of research inspired by feminist epistemology and feminist science and technologies studies has contributed to deconstructing the supposed gender-neutrality of biomedical research by shedding light on the persistence of gender biases that threaten the accuracy of scientific results. Against this background, this research analyzes the factors hindering the adoption of a gender perspective in research by considering, as a case study, the field of oncology. To date, most literature has focused on researchers’ gender blindness and stereotypes and how to enhance their awareness. In this paper, we have shifted the focus in two ways, moving from cultural to material explanations on the one hand, but also from individual (micro) to contextual (meso and macro) factors on the other. Both aspects have been under-explored so far. In order to do so, an organizational approach to the study of bioscience becomes essential in order to understand the role of work and organizing in reproducing gender biases. Based on interviews and focus groups conducted at the European Institute of Oncology, a research and healthcare organization in Italy, our results suggest that the reasons underlying sex and gender inequalities in scientific research are complex and multi-level, comprising epistemological, methodological, technical, organizational, contractual, financial and normative constraints. As such, they require complex solutions designed not only to “fix” researchers, but also to “fix” institutions, their underlying structure and culture.
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