Abstract Physics education reform movements should pay attention to feminist analyses of gender in the culture of physics for two reasons. One reason is that feminist analyses contribute to an understanding of a ‘chilly climate’ women encounter in many physics university departments. Another reason is that feminist analyses reveal that certain styles of doing science are predominant in the culture of physics. I introduce recent philosophical work in social epistemology to argue that the predominance of certain styles of doing science is not good for science. Scientific communities would benefit from greater diversity in styles of doing science. Keywords Gender in science Æ Women in science Æ Physics education Æ Chilly climate Æ Social epistemology 1 Introduction The persistent under-representation of women in physics in many countries consti- tutes a challenge for physics education reform movements which aim to recruit and retain students in physics (Barinaga 1994; Ivie et al. 2001). I argue that physics education reform movements should pay attention to feminist analyses of gender in the culture of physics for two reasons. One reason is that feminist analyses con- tribute to an understanding of a ‘chilly climate’ women encounter in many physics university departments (Franz 1995). A ‘chilly climate’ includes such phenomena as lack of encouragement, diminishing remarks on a person’s academic performance, drawing attention to a person’s gender or sexuality in an inappropriate way in an academic setting, and even sexual harassment. According to an international survey of more than 1,000 women in physics in 55 countries, one-third of the women felt K. Rolin (&) Department of Philosophy, Helsinki School of Economics, Runeberginkatu 14-16, Helsinki 00101, Finland e-mail: kristina.rolin@hse.fi 123 Sci & Educ (2008) 17:1111–1125 DOI 10.1007/s11191-006-9065-3 ORIGINAL PAPER Gender and physics: feminist philosophy and science education Kristina Rolin Received: 25 May 2006 / Accepted: 10 November 2006 / Published online: 28 November 2006 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2006