The portrayal of women scientists in Chinese science and technology museums

2.1 Gender distribution in exhibitions in scientific figure exhibition halls

Among the 85 scientific figure exhibition halls, 81 are dedicated to individual scientists. Of these, 73 honour male scientists, while only eight honour female scientists, resulting in a gender ratio of approximately 9:1. There are also three comprehensive scientific figure museums: the China Scientist Museum, the Xi’an Scientist Museum and the Shanghai Academician Hall. An analysis of the number of scientists featured in both physical and online exhibitions shows that the China Scientist Museum presents 421 male scientists and 28 female scientists, a ratio of 15:1. The Shanghai Academician Hall features 202 men and 18 women, a ratio of about 11:1. On the WeChat public account of the Xi’an Scientist Museum, the ‘Promoting the Spirit of Scientists’ section has showcased 152 scientists in total, 27 of whom are women, with a gender ratio of about 5:1. However, in the physical ‘Academician Wall’ of the Xi’an Scientist Museum, the ratio is about 18:1.

2.2 Gender distribution in exhibitions in science and technology museums and industry museums

In China's science and technology museums, which are mainly based on the science centre model, science education is primarily achieved through interactive exhibits. Therefore, exhibitions dedicated to scientists are mostly temporary, and scientists’ names usually appear in descriptions of certain scientific principles or discoveries, or in supplementary content on museum websites or WeChat public accounts, with a significant gender imbalance. For example, in the exhibition ‘Shining Stars: A Journey of Scientific Exploration across Time and Space’ at the Rizhao Science and Technology Museum in Shandong Province, 100 prominent scientific figures were featured, of whom only five were women. Similarly, in the ‘Promoting the Spirit of Scientists in the New Era’ column on the WeChat public account of the Heilongjiang Science and Technology Museum, 131 scientists have been highlighted, yet only eight are women, a ratio of about 15:1.

In industry museums, data from the official website of the Chinese Scientist Spirit Education Base, as well as official websites and WeChat public accounts of relevant exhibition halls, show that women scientists are prominently featured in only eight of the 141 exhibitions related to scientists. Apart from the Memorial Hall of Yang Zao and Han Chun (Erwin Engst and Joan Hinton), which jointly commemorates a scientist couple, the other industry museums each display no more than three women scientists, representing less than one-tenth of the scientists exhibited.

Overall, there is still a significant gap between the representation of male and female scientists in China's science and technology museums. In some comprehensive science and technology exhibitions, women scientists remain so underrepresented that they are virtually ‘invisible’.

However, according to publicly available data, women account for 40%–50% of researchers in China, indicating that they hold a significant place in the scientific community. The large gap between the displayed and actual practitioners among female researchers highlights a serious disconnect between exhibition content and the real structure of the research community. This disconnect may arise from several factors. On the one hand, exhibit selection and planning may be influenced by curatorial concepts, venue limitations and other factors, with a preference for scientists who enjoy broad recognition or academicians who fit conventional notions of ‘success’. Since relatively few women occupy such top-level positions, many ordinary female researchers remain invisible. On the other hand, research materials on female scientists are less frequently collected, organized and studied, leaving limited resources for exhibition use. Regardless of these reasons, the gender imbalance urgently needs to be addressed, as it not only fails to accurately reflect the gender composition of the scientific research community but also undermines the enthusiasm of young women to pursue careers in science.

3.1 Gender-neutral images of women scientists

Regarding gender-neutral exhibitions, there are two specific scenarios. In the first type, the image of women scientists is portrayed and promoted in a relatively straightforward manner. The main content of these exhibitions generally includes three parts: a brief biography of the scientist, her major achievements, and the awards and honours she has received. The displayed photographs mainly include official portraits, laboratory photos or field-work photos, with no personal or family images. The physical exhibits focus primarily on items related to scientific research, such as diplomas, award certificates, laboratory equipment, experimental records and reports, and scientific articles. The textual descriptions focus mainly on scientific achievements, contributions and status. For example, in the exhibition at the Liaoning Palaeontological Museum, two outstanding women palaeontologists, Hao Yichun and Zhang Miman, are featured. The exhibition emphasizes their important contributions to the establishment of micropalaeontology as a systematic discipline in China and their pioneering role in advancing the internationalization of Chinese palaeoichthyological research. Similarly, on the official website of the Chinese Scientists Museum, women scientists with limited available biographical information—such as Feng Zhiliu and Shi Yifan—are presented in an achievement-focused manner, emphasizing the number of articles published and scientific accomplishments attained.

The second type of exhibition places greater emphasis on the multifaceted image of women scientists. In addition to presenting basic biographical information and scientific achievements, these exhibitions vividly describe their educational experiences, research memories and other representative examples, thereby showcasing their intellectual pursuits and personal qualities. A typical case is the digital exhibition of the Chinese Scientists Museum. Through the ‘Project on the Collection of Academic Life Data of Senior Scientists’ (Collection Project), the museum has accumulated a large volume of textual, pictorial and physical materials, especially oral history materials that are rich in storytelling. This provides a strong foundation for creating a more multidimensional image of women scientists. For example, when presenting academician Wen Yumei, the museum tells the story of how she tested toxins on herself during the red-eye virus epidemic in the 1970s and later braved countless risks to develop and improve the hepatitis B vaccine, demonstrating her pioneering research spirit and strong patriotic fervour (China Scientists Museum, 2025). When introducing academician Ye Shuhua, the museum underscores her persistence in advancing ‘very long baseline interferometry’ (VLBI)—a cutting-edge technology that few were willing to embrace at the time—showcasing her spirit of innovation, rigorous pursuit of truth and scientific integrity (China Scientists Museum, 2024). When introducing academician Kuang Tingyun, the Xi’an Scientists Museum recounts how she inspired many students, even those she had met only briefly, highlighting her eagerness to cultivate research talent and her dedication to mentoring the next generation (Xi’an Scientists Museum, 2023). The Heilongjiang Science and Technology Museum (2022) illustrates Tu Youyou's perseverance, innovation and resilience by highlighting her method of using low-boiling-point solvents to enrich the antimalarial components of artemisinin. While such exhibitions reveal the inner world of women scientists and enrich their representation, the focus remains on their determination to overcome research challenges, their dedication and their patriotic devotion, without attention to feminine traits or gender-specific experiences in their scientific endeavours.

Although the ‘scientific spirit of scientists’ is viewed by progressive researchers as a gendered term, in the promotional purposes of most Chinese science and technology museums, it is mainly used to align with the ‘patriotism’ theme of broader political propaganda. This framing is also reflected in the exhibitions of many prominent male scientists, such as Li Siguang and Qian Xuesen. To a certain extent, the complex emotional labour and distinct gendered dimensions embedded in the notion of ‘attachment to the motherland’ have been partially ignored, requiring further differentiation and deeper analysis.

3.2 Gender-specific images of women scientists

There are also some science and technology museums that place particular emphasis on showcasing the gender traits of women scientists. These exhibitions can also be divided into two types.

The first type stresses the woman identity of the featured scientist without explaining why her ‘identity as woman’ is emphasized or the implications behind it. In these exhibitions, terms such as ‘woman’, ‘women hero’, ‘mother’ and ‘goddess’ (in the Chinese context, especially in modern internet language, this word does not refer to a literal or mythological goddess, but rather to an ideal woman admired or revered by people) often appear repeatedly in the most eye-catching titles or introductions. For example, such exhibitions may emphasize that a scientist is the first woman to propose a theory or achieve a certain accomplishment, or they may use gender-specific vocabulary to introduce a woman scientist. At the Shanghai Academician Museum, the title for mathematician Hu Hesheng is ‘The First Woman Academician in Mathematics’, and astronomer Ye Shuhua is described as ‘The Woman Scientist Who Introduced Beijing Time’. The Chinese Scientists Museum depicts leprosy researcher Li Huanying as both a ‘fighter against leprosy’ and ‘Mother Li’ (Cui, 2022), praises petrochemical expert Lu Wanzhen as a ‘heroine in the petrochemical kingdom’ (China Scientists, 2022), and describes computer scientist Xia Peisu as a ‘mysterious woman engineer behind early Chinese computers’ (Sa, 2016). The Beijing Science Center calls palaeontologist Zhang Miman the ‘goddess of the ancient fish kingdom’ (Digital Beijing Science Center, 2023) and introduces He Zehui as ‘China's Madame Curie’ (Beijing Association for Science and Technology, 2024). The Wu Jianxiong Memorial Museum introduces Wu with the title ‘A Petite Chinese Woman Excelled in Atomic Collisions’ (Southeast University, 2019). The Lin Qiaozhi Memorial Museum uses ‘Mother of Ten Thousand Babies’ as the keyword for the opening chapter of its exhibition. These exhibitions fall short of providing a three-dimensional portrayal of women scientists, but they leave a deep impression on visitors by using gender-specific vocabulary in titles and introductions, clearly signalling that these scientists are women.

The second type of exhibition focuses on widely shared public perceptions of women's personalities or virtues and uses those perceptions as the main thread to construct exhibitions about women scientists. Curators carefully select stories from the scientific research or daily lives of women scientists that highlight their gentleness, thoughtfulness, attention to detail, love of cleanliness and unique appreciation for beauty. They also choose supporting images or exhibits, such as personal photos, to corroborate these traits. Such exhibitions are most common in science and technology museums, especially in memorials dedicated to specific women scientists. For example, in the ‘Craftsmen of the Nation’ exhibition at the Chinese Scientists Museum, pharmaceutical chemist An Jingxian is described as follows:

Some say she doesn’t know life, but this very person who ‘doesn’t know life’ is proficient in five foreign languages. In her room filled with professional books, the French novel The Red and the Black lies by her pillow. This person who ‘doesn’t know life’ sets her assistants’ minds at ease by casually sketching cartoons for them. (Duan, 2016)

In this contrasting description, academician An's rich hobbies, her ability to care for and encourage others, and her love for literature and art are vividly portrayed. Memorial halls dedicated to specific women scientists focus more strongly on this type of comprehensive portrayal. For example, the Wu Jianxiong Memorial Museum highlights stories from her early years, emphasizing her calm yet studious nature and her humility in not flaunting her achievements, even when solving complex problems. This portrayal effectively conveys her quiet, elegant and modest character. It also includes a photo of her standing with her parents beside the sapling planted at her birth during a home-town visit, illustrating her nostalgia and emotional depth. The Tu Youyou Memorial Hall features a bronze statue of Tu reading under an old tree in her childhood home at the entrance of the exhibition, giving visitors a vivid and lifelike impression of the quiet, eager-to-learn young scientist. The He Zehui Memorial Museum devotes part of its space to showcasing He's deep bond with academician Qian Xuesen. Through stories of how she carefully packed essential items and skilfully handled interrogations from the US side, it highlights her meticulousness and thorough thinking. Such portrayals of women scientists generally align with the public's perception of women as emotionally rich, sensitive, kind and caring.

The humble image of female scientists who do not flaunt their achievements, as mentioned above, reflects to some extent the stereotypical perception of female scientists in society. From a historical perspective, in male-dominated scientific research fields, women were often expected to exhibit introverted and low-key traits to avoid being perceived as a challenge to male authority. Research by Margaret Rossiter and other scholars on female scientists in the US shows that, in the 20th century, even when female scientists achieved outstanding results, they were often required to downplay their own brilliance in order to avoid disrupting the established gender power structure in the scientific community. In China, although cultural backgrounds differ, social beliefs also have an impact on the portrayals of female scientists during specific historical periods. For example, in the early years of the People's Republic of China, when there was an urgent need for collective contribution, scientific research prioritized group achievements over individual recognition. This may have led to portrayals of female scientists as humble and silently dedicated. However, whether this approach conceals other diverse traits of female scientists, such as courage and innovation in the research process, is worth deeper exploration.

4.1 Deficiencies

First, in the aforementioned science and technology museums, the overall proportion of women scientists being exhibited and promoted is extremely low; virtually no ordinary women scientists are represented. Although the proportion of women in China's scientific and technological workforce has reached 40.1%, the proportion of women academicians in the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering is only around 5%–10%. Generally speaking, most museums only include outstanding women scientists such as academicians or Nobel Prize winners in their exhibitions (the same applies to men). However, since the number of women at the top of the scientific pyramid is extremely limited, the proportion of women scientists on display is also very low. In these museums, women scientists account for only about one-tenth—or even less—of the total. This clearly reflects the gender imbalance in science as represented in science and technology museum exhibitions. It indicates that current methods of communication and display have yet to overcome long-standing limitations.

According to a rough estimate, the Chinese women scientists who are most frequently featured in Chinese museum exhibitions include Tu Youyou, He Zehui, Lin Qiaozhi, Wu Jianxiong and Wang Chengshu. The most frequently exhibited foreign woman scientist is Madame Curie. Among the science and technology museums on the list of Scientist Spirit Education Bases, only Tu Youyou, Wang Chengshu, He Zehui, Lin Qiaozhi, Wu Jianxiong and Lin Lanying have personal exhibitions. In contrast, the majority of ordinary women scientists who have made unique contributions to specific fields but are relatively unknown receive little to no attention. At present, the young women scientists who are most frequently mentioned in museum exhibitions include Yan Ning, Liang Jianying and Chen Hualan. Encouragingly, the exhibition ‘Women's Power in the World of Science—Portraits of Chinese and French Women Researchers’ launched by the Chinese Scientist Museum in November 2024 included an even younger generation of women scientists, such as recent PhD graduates, postdoctoral researchers and associate researchers. The portraits on display capture their confidence and passion, highlighting their elegance and grace. Accompanying texts briefly describe their research, and some scholars are also represented through personal quotes. Several women scientists expressed hope that more young women would be inspired to pursue careers in science. While the content of this exhibition is still relatively limited, it marks a promising start towards more comprehensively showcasing the work and thoughts of ordinary women scientists.

Second, the exhibition content for outstanding women scientists is relatively brief, and the portrayal of their characters is rather superficial. When women scientists are featured in science and technology museums, the content is generally limited to their scientific achievements and social contributions. This type of exhibition lacks depth in strategy, approach and content, which is very common in science achievement exhibitions and comprehensive scientist exhibitions in industry museums. Although it helps the public recognize women's contributions to science, this approach detaches them from the historical contexts of their research and lives, reducing these living individuals to mere technical images and performance data. As a result, such exhibitions often become little more than displays of achievements. This not only fails to capture the unique essence of women scientists but also falls short of creating multifaceted portraits of their characters.

As Rahm and Ash (2008) proposed, when shaping the image of scientists, science and technology museums should focus on displaying the working processes and life backgrounds of scientists, not just their achievements. This ‘humanized’ narrative approach helps the audience better understand the diversity and complexity of scientists, thereby altering the stereotyped view of scientists. Of course, there are exceptions, such as the digital showcase at the Chinese Scientist Museum, which uses rich historical sources to tell the life stories of women scientists, thereby creating a more vivid and multifaceted image of their characters. However, as some scholars have found, due to the constraint of exhibition objectives, Chinese science and technology museums tend to focus on the patriotic spirit and social responsibility of scientists when presenting their images (Huang, 2017). The exhibition of women scientists is no exception. In this case, the contexts and emotions closely tied to their research and lives are condensed into the scientists’ spirit of patriotism, dedication, pragmatism, innovation, collaboration and education. To some extent, these portrayals are stereotyped. Such exhibitions still fail to present complex, multifaceted individuals, let alone multifaceted women scientists.

Finally, the existing exhibitions of women scientists lack gender-critical consciousness. In the aforementioned science and technology museums, beyond shortcomings such as singular narratives and superficial portrayals, exhibitions that focus on gender characteristics of women scientists also lack depth. When describing gender-related traits, they often emphasize personal hobbies, daily habits or strong emotional ties with husbands and parents. These descriptions merely tell us that they are ‘women’ or that as ‘women’ they have also made contributions to science. Little attention is paid to how these traits influenced their scientific work.

There are also a few exhibitions that mention how women's sensitivity and observational skills may benefit scientific progress. For example, in the ‘Portraits of Chinese and French Women Researchers’ exhibition mentioned earlier, some scientists encourage peers to bravely chase their dreams like butterflies, stressing that science is richer because of women's wisdom, creativity and careful observation. They make appeals such as: ‘Dear girls, the field of science needs your passion and intelligence. No matter what challenges you encounter, do not let gender be an obstacle to your pursuit of dreams.’ However, such statements stay only at the level of ‘inspiration’ and ‘slogan’.

In fact, women scientists have long faced unique difficulties and obstacles linked to gender in their scientific journeys. For example, during the Republic of China period, women scientists confronted a pervasive social atmosphere that favoured men, alongside the dominant view that women should accept the role of ‘virtuous wives and good mothers’. Even in today's era of greater gender awareness, women continue to encounter invisible and structural inequalities in education and career development. Stereotypes such as ‘girls are not good at science and engineering’, ‘women are not suitable for working in harsh environments’, ‘women lack the courage to overcome difficulties’, and even ‘a girl's success is not as good as a good marriage’ are still widely present in the mass media. No matter in which era, women scientists consistently face the dilemma of balancing work and family. The impact of pregnancy and childbirth on research, and the effect of maternity leave on career advancement, are just two examples. Many of the women scientists featured in the aforementioned museums have faced similar struggles, yet how they overcame these difficulties and what strategies they used are rarely emphasized or presented. Moreover, there is a lack of critical reflection on the social causes behind these gendered difficulties. As a result, museums fail to harness their potential role in constructing a new, gender-equal culture.

4.2 Measures for improvement

Addressing the aforementioned deficiencies in the portrayal of women scientists in science and technology museums is not a task that can be accomplished overnight or by a single entity. It requires the collective participation of multiple stakeholders and sectors, as well as parallel progress in policymaking, academic research and exhibition practices.

In terms of policymaking, museum authorities and their supervisory departments should undertake top-level design and systematic planning for the exhibitions of scientists. They need to adopt a clear philosophy and a set of goals for shaping scientists’ images, with particular emphasis on integrating gender equality awareness into the entire process of formulating and implementing museum exhibition and education policies, in order to promote gender mainstreaming in society. The design, implementation, supervision and evaluation of museum exhibitions and educational projects should pay adequate attention to gender differences and ensure that the scientific achievements and life stories of women scientists receive the same attention as those of men. Through policy guidance, it is essential to establish sound mechanisms for women's participation, encouraging more women to actively engage in the management, decision-making and evaluation of museum exhibitions and education. Additionally, efforts should be made to expand the coverage of women scientists and their disciplines in exhibitions, and to increase both the number and proportion of exhibitions in science and technology museums that feature women scientists from different fields.

In terms of academic research, it is important to strengthen interdisciplinary studies related to gender and science, particularly in history, sociology and communication studies. Academic discussions on the construction of women scientists’ images should be encouraged in order to enhance the visibility and influence of gender analysis in the exhibitions of science and technology museums. First, in the science achievement exhibitions and scientist exhibitions of industry-specific museums, the portrayal of women scientists often appears superficial. A major reason is the relative scarcity of information about their family backgrounds and educational experiences. This highlights the necessity of conducting in-depth research on both individual and collective women scientists, as well as systematically collecting and analysing their archival materials and oral histories. Among these efforts, the substantial materials on Chinese women scientists already acquired through the Collection Project should be carefully studied to provide solid academic support for in-depth thematic exhibitions. Second, the deficiencies in the portrayal and dissemination of women scientists’ images in museum exhibitions are mainly caused by the prevalent culture and structure of gender inequality in the scientific field, as well as the lack of critical research on this issue. Therefore, the academic community should conduct more historical analyses, field investigations and philosophical discussions on the root causes, historical evolution and current status of gender inequality in the scientific field. This will provide rich theoretical resources and forward-looking academic guidance for museum exhibition design. Finally, the communication and museum sectors should strengthen audience analysis and explore exhibition design concepts, content selection, display methods and technical means from a gender perspective to help break stereotypes about women.

In terms of tangible exhibition practices, whether in comprehensive scientist exhibitions, science achievement exhibitions, or thematic exhibitions focused on women scientists, curators should actively leverage academic resources. By incorporating expert opinions at various stages—especially from a gender perspective—they can address the aforementioned deficiencies and prevent the reproduction of gender stereotypes and inequality in museum exhibitions and education activities. At the same time, museums should explore new exhibition types. For example, thematic exhibitions on cross-gender collaboration in major scientific fields or projects could be organized to present engaging stories that highlight both the commonalities and differences between men and women scientists in their work, as well as the diversity of their scientific methods and styles. Another approach is to organize interviews with women scientists and facilitate face-to-face exchanges between the public and women scientists in connection with relevant exhibitions. These activities can provide deeper supplements and extensions to the exhibition content. Additionally, multimedia platforms could be used to share the life experiences, gender-related challenges, research journeys and scientific ideas of women scientists, as well as public perceptions of them. Furthermore, exhibitions could strategically display visual comparisons of the educational and career development trajectories of men and women scientists across different periods, along with comparisons of research resources such as project funding and laboratory spaces, in order to demonstrate the impact of institutional gender discrimination. Satirical comparisons—for example, contrasting the scientific achievements of Marie Curie with cartoon images of her as a ‘gentle assistant to her husband’—can deconstruct societal stereotypes of female scientists and achieve demystification at the cultural-symbol level. Similarly, simulating the academic life cycles of men and women scientists and comparing the impact of their achievements through data can reveal the differences caused by structural inequality. Museums can also establish and accumulate proactive archives of strategies by demonstrating the positive influence of academic networks and knowledge inheritance among women scientists. Through these practical measures, it is hoped that a cultural atmosphere can be fostered—one that engages society as a whole in addressing gender equality in science and encourages more women to participate in it. This atmosphere, centred on science and technology museums and their exhibitions, will contribute to the healthy and sustainable development of science and the achievement of gender equality.