The project examines for the first time the importance and activity of women in Vienna’s scientific societies in an international context. It will make female scientists, their biographies and their contributions to the history of science visible. Furthermore, it aims at broadening our understanding of processes of knowledge production and distribution in Central Europe. Scientific societies, in addition to charitable and political associations, offered women a broad field of action through their inclusiveness, some 30 years before women were admitted to Austrian universities. The project analyzes the discourses on the admission and participation of women as well as negotiations of masculinities and femininities within selected Viennese associations.