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The Finkbeiner Test: 7 Rules to Avoid Gender Profiling

June 16, 2017

Written by: Vanessa Reich-Shackelford

A compliment is a compliment is a compliment, right? Not according to the Finkbeiner Test.

Film has the , which asks whether a work of fiction features at least two women (who have names) who talk to each other about something other than a man, but science has taken this investigation one step further and can now claim the Finkbeiner Test.

Is it inappropriate to profile women in STEM in relation to their roles as mothers? Some think so.

The Bechdel Test first appeared in 1985 in a comic strip entitled 鈥�,鈥� penned by Alison Bechdel. It has become a standard barometer for judging the presence of women in film, despite its . But the Finkbeiner Test, instead of revealing a lack of individuality and agency in fictional women, is designed to call attention to compliments of women based on stereotypes. (For a list of examples of these stereotypes, visit .)

In 2013, freelancer Christie Aschwanden wrote a post (that has since been removed) on , a site dedicated to bring 鈥渟cience to the woman in you, whoever she is, whatever she does.鈥� Though the original post can no longer be found, the sums up Aschwanden鈥檚 creation of the Finkbeiner Test nicely. Aschwanden, the lead writer for science at and a health columnist for , observed:

鈥淐ampaigns to recognize outstanding female scientists have led to a recognizable genre of media coverage. Let鈥檚 call it 鈥楢 lady who鈥︹�� genre. You鈥檝e seen these profiles, of course you have, because they鈥檙e everywhere. The hallmark of 鈥楢 lady who鈥︹�� profile is that it treats its subject鈥檚 sex as her most defining detail. She鈥檚 not just a great scientist, she鈥檚 a woman! And if she鈥檚 also a wife and a mother, those roles get emphasized too.鈥�

She wrote that such gender profiles are gratuitous, and that pointing out a woman鈥檚 accomplishments alongside phrases like 鈥渟he is married, has two children and has been able to keep up with her research鈥� leads to an 鈥渁rchetype of perseverance.鈥� The seven-part Finkbeiner Test grew out of a story that Aschwanden鈥檚 friend, science writer (pictured at the top of the page), tells regarding an assignment to profile a female astronomer, , in Nature. Finkbeiner decided to pretend the subject of her article was just an astronomer, instead of digging into her family and personal life. She has expressed full support for Aschwanden鈥檚 test, and thinks it should be applied to general-interest scientist profiles such as those in The New York Times or Nature.

The Finkbeiner Test decries mentioning, in some publications, a woman is the first in her field to achieve recognition. Source: Flickr, user Spudgun67

The Finkbeiner Test has seven parts. In order for a story to pass, it must not mention:

  1. The fact that she's a woman
  2. Her husband's job
  3. Her child-care arrangements
  4. How she nurtures her underlings
  5. How she was taken aback by the competitiveness in her field
  6. How she's such a role model for other women
  7. How she's "the first woman to..."

The last point on the list has been contentious for Finkbeiner. She explains that when writing about Andrea Ghez, she discovered she was the first woman to win a certain award. She decided to stick to the seven points of the Finkbeiner test. She explains in an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review, 鈥淭he fact that she鈥檚 the first woman to do that says a lot more about the prize-giving committee than it does about her. [鈥 So if I were going to put that into a story, it would be a story about prejudice in that prize committee.鈥� She also defends the second to last point that dictates the story must not tell how the woman subject of an article is a role model for other women. Says Finkbeiner:

鈥淭hat comment is endemic to the field. I had to get some outside quotes for the profile of this astronomer, and every single one said, 鈥樷�nd she鈥檚 a great role model,鈥� and I didn鈥檛 put any of that in. Scientists, male and female, tend to be role models for their students and younger colleagues, and I鈥檝e just heard it too often.鈥�

So, is a solution to instead ask men who are scientists about their spouses and child-care? Chad Orzel on ScienceBlogs , writing, 鈥淎s long as we are going to have children 鈥� and I hope we all agree that just not having kids is not an acceptable solution 鈥� somebody is going to have to take care of those children. And short of a complete overhaul of our entire society, that means one or both of that child鈥檚 parents. If that burden isn鈥檛 going to fall disproportionately on women, that means it has to be acceptable and even expected that men are an active part of this process. [鈥 Rather than moving to a world where we don鈥檛 just ask 鈥榃ho takes care of your kids?鈥� of women, I鈥檇 prefer to see a world where we do ask, 鈥榃ho takes care of your kids?鈥� of men.鈥�

Finkbeiner herself commented on Orzel鈥檚 post, saying, 鈥淲e鈥檙e not disagreeing here. I鈥檓 sure we both agree that personal life info has been a stock part of profiles of women鈥檚 profiles and much less so of men鈥檚, and that imbalance ought to stop.鈥� But she also maintains that mentioning a scientist鈥檚 family or kids, regardless of gender, should be reserved for 鈥渏ournal articles or talks or newsletters for scientist audiences,鈥� and should be left out of profiles of scientists for larger audiences. She believes the subjects of these articles are normal human beings, and the science is what makes them interesting. 鈥淚f you want to humanize them, talk about their motivations. Talk about how they got interested in their field. Talk about the part of their life that led them to become such an interesting scientist 鈥� because childcare is not interesting.鈥�

At Vancouver-based Talk Science To Me, writer Jakob that science journalism has 鈥渁chieved routine tokenism鈥� and is taking baby steps towards meeting the requirements of the Finkbeiner Test. Do you agree that science journalism is doing better at profiling women in STEM? Try applying the Finkbeiner Test to these types of articles and let us know over at or !