Women in Geology

Background

As a result of more and more women scientists standing out in history with their remarkable contribution to science, gender studies over women scientists are drawing more attention (Lewis, n.d.). Women who devote themselves in the pursuit of science, not only acquire significant achievements and make contributions to the society, but also often become a role model rising against extrinsic obstacles such like gender based stereotypes. The public tends to have a very limited and objective understanding of scientists, especially women scientists. Lewis has said that most people would have a hard time naming more than one women scientist (n.d.). Dr. Elena believes that for many people, the most common source of knowing about science is television and comic books, on which facts are often improperly told due to gender stereotypes (1997). Because of the same reason, a huge chunk of history contributed by women scientists is missing. For example, during the ancient Greece, when hundreds of men devoted themselves into science and became famous, Hypatia was the only woman scientist known by name. And this is also partially due to the fact that Hypatia was the daughter of Theon-the director of the Library of Alexandria. As a field that does not agree with traditional view of females, women geologists appeared even later in the history. The change in women’s social status and in the scientific community certainly play a significant role in the recognition of women geologists, but it is the hard work and passion of women geologists that pushed the evolution of the geological society to where we are now.

In this website, I will introduce the life stories of three women geologists: Mary Anning, Florence Bascom and Lou Henry Hoover. I will discuss their achievements and social recognition, and in an attempt to understand these women and their roles in the society, I will analyze the dynamic progress of geologists’ educational background and social status change.

Click on the following links to view each of the three significant women geologists:

Mary Anning (1799-1847)

Florence Bascom (1862-1945)

Lou Henry Hoover (1874-1944)

Conclusion

Comparing Mary Anning with Florence Bascom, we can see an improvement in women’s social status and recognition with time. Florence Bascom received much more honors, although her contribution to geology was not as important as Mary Anning’s. However, with the changing of society throughout time, women have gained more rights. To further examine the evolution of this societal change, Lou Henry Hoover did not contribute as much as the two other women to the geological community, but she was well-known among geoscientists. This was likely due to her status as the first lady, but can also be attributed to the evolution of societal change in the geological community. We can conclude that women are not only contributing more and more in geology, but also are getting more credit from the society. Although we cannot overlook the societal context that individual woman is standing, women geologists’ general societal status thanks to generations of women pursuing geoscience has been a great award to all current and future women geologists.

 

Works Cited

Lewis, E. (n.d.). Famous women scientists: Notable women in science, medicine, and math. Retrieved from http://womenshistory.about.com/od/airspacesciencemath/tp/Famous-Women-Scientists.htm.

Elena, A. (1997). Skirts in the lab: Madame Curie and the image of the woman scientist in the feature film. Public Understanding of Science, 6, 269-278.

The Royal Society. (2010). Most influential British women in the history of science selected by panel of female fellows of the Royal Society and science historians.

Eckel, E. B. (1982). The Geological Society of America: Life history of a learned society (Vol. 155). Geological Society of America.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/anning.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Anning

http://www.eiu.edu/wism/about_biographies.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Bascom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Henry_Hoover

http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=32

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Henry_Hoover