Since well before before Foucault we have been aware that what counts as valid and valuable knowledge is a product of power relations. After all, the Carthaginians left no writings in defence of the accusations laid against them by the Romans after their defeat and mass enslavement. Yet the notion of the scientific method as a means of producing valuable knowledge regardless of origin remains a persistently heuristic idea.
The role of the academic conference in the process of peer review and the production of knowledge should not be underestimated, and so evidence highlighting the systematic bias against female-authored submissions to conferences is a call for change in our practices throughout academia.
The news articles prompting this post are here and here.
The journal article containing the study is here.
VIDA 