Abstract
Women have been in vis i ble in the fields of sci ence and engi neer ing-for his tor i cal, so cial, and cul tural rea sons. There have al ways been women ac tive in sci ence, but their ac tiv ity has been con strained by the sci en tific cul ture: they were re routed into the so-called “fern i nine sciences”; they were not given credit for their work or they were forced to work for lit tie or no money while fol low ing a spouse in a sci en tific field. It is the mis sion of the Ar chives of Women in Sci ence and En gi neering to doc u ment their his tory. This in eludes the his tory of sci ence, but more i mportantly the Ar chives doc u ments theexperienceof women in science- their roles, the dis crim i na tion, their work and fam i lies.