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Creating Complicated LivesWomen and Science at English-Canadian Universities, 1880-1980 |
eBook Available
The nearly forgotten history and complex career paths of the first Canadian women scientists.
Why have Canadian women scientists been written out of the historical record? Who were they? What did they accomplish? What were their life paths? These are some of the questions answered in this authoritative work. Over decades of research, Marianne Ainley identified, tracked down, and interviewed surviving scientists. Creating Complicated Lives weaves the lives and work of these pioneers with the author's own experiences as an immigrant scientific technician and later a feminist historian.
Ainley argues that we must look at the lives of women scientists through a new historical lens that takes into account both the advances of science and concurrent debates about the advancement of women. Rather than having linear career trajectories, many women shifted fields, coped with discrimination, and endeavoured to find niches in which they could make significant contributions.
Never before has there been a survey of the lives and work of early Canadian women scientists. This nuanced study brings their stories to light, comparing, contrasting, and interpreting their very complicated lives.
Ainley argues that we must look at the lives of women scientists through a new historical lens that takes into account both the advances of science and concurrent debates about the advancement of women. Rather than having linear career trajectories, many women shifted fields, coped with discrimination, and endeavoured to find niches in which they could make significant contributions.
Never before has there been a survey of the lives and work of early Canadian women scientists. This nuanced study brings their stories to light, comparing, contrasting, and interpreting their very complicated lives.
Details
208 Pages, 6 x 9
ISBN 9780773540675
December 2012
Formats: Paperback, eBook
“Creating Complicated Lives is a brilliant exploration of the lives of Canadian women working in the sciences. Arguments have been made by feminist historians against unduly celebratory approaches to women’s history, as they have been against histories that focus entirely on women’s victimization. Ainley’s book emphasizes neither, achieving a fine balance by looking at lives that exemplified much more than the dichotomy between these two extremes.” Alison Prentice, Department of History, University of Victoria
“Creating Complicated Lives provides an essential historical backdrop to the current debates about ‘‘women and science.’’ It is my hope that a new generation of scholars will pick up this research agenda and contribute to the expansion of the history of women scientists in Canada, a field to which the name of Marianne G. Ainley is inextricably linked.” Canadian Historical Review
“It offers a comprehensive treasury of valuable biographical information, accompanied by many analytical insights, for anyone interested in the history of women in science.” Historical Studies in Education
“Creating Complicated Lives provides an essential historical backdrop to the current debates about ‘‘women and science.’’ It is my hope that a new generation of scholars will pick up this research agenda and contribute to the expansion of the history of women scientists in Canada, a field to which the name of Marianne G. Ainley is inextricably linked.” Canadian Historical Review
“It offers a comprehensive treasury of valuable biographical information, accompanied by many analytical insights, for anyone interested in the history of women in science.” Historical Studies in Education
Marianne Gosztonyi Ainley (1937-2008) was principal of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University, as well as dean of Women's Studies at the University of Northern British Columbia.
Marelene Rayner-Canham is a retired instructor in Physics and Geoff Rayner-Canham is a professor of Chemistry at the Grenfell Campus of Memorial University. They are co-editors of A Devotion to their Science: Pioneer Women of Radioactivity and co-authors of Harriet Brooks: Pioneer Nuclear Scientist.
Marelene Rayner-Canham is a retired instructor in Physics and Geoff Rayner-Canham is a professor of Chemistry at the Grenfell Campus of Memorial University. They are co-editors of A Devotion to their Science: Pioneer Women of Radioactivity and co-authors of Harriet Brooks: Pioneer Nuclear Scientist.
Editors' Note vii
Foreword by Alison Prentice ix
Introduction: Shifting Lenses 3
1 A Complicated Life: My Journey to Feminist Enlightenment 9
2 New Horizons: Women and Science in Academe, 1880-1920 45
3 Academic Realities of Single Women, 1920-1980 62
4 Complicated Lives I: Family Life and Science, 1920-1950 90
5 Complicated Lives II: Family Life and Science after 1950 127
Notes 165
Bibliography 185
Index 193
Foreword by Alison Prentice ix
Introduction: Shifting Lenses 3
1 A Complicated Life: My Journey to Feminist Enlightenment 9
2 New Horizons: Women and Science in Academe, 1880-1920 45
3 Academic Realities of Single Women, 1920-1980 62
4 Complicated Lives I: Family Life and Science, 1920-1950 90
5 Complicated Lives II: Family Life and Science after 1950 127
Notes 165
Bibliography 185
Index 193
