| When: | Thursday, October 17th, 2024 |
| Time: | 12:00 pm — 1:00 pm |
| Location: | Virtual Event |
| Audience: | Anyone |
Women have a long history in botany, from participation as herbalists in the Middle Ages through to serving as knowledgeable naturalists, authors, and instructors in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Botany once represented one of the few branches of science open to women as participants, because it was considered appropriate for “the fairer sex” and because it could be done near the home, where most women’s lives were based at that time. But a move in the mid-19th century to formalize and gain greater respect for the field led to women being pushed out and their involvement framed as mere hobby as opposed to genuine contribution. A few tenacious women still managed to break through and create space for their work, while others turned to what we now call science communication. Today, though women are now involved at every level, botany remains a place where women – and in particular mothers – struggle for equal footing. This talk will trace the historical path of women’s involvement in botany and contrast it with the experiences of women in botany, and in STEM research more broadly, today.
About the presenter:
Erin Zimmerman is an evolutionary biologist turned science writer and botanical illustrator. She holds an MSc in fungal population genomics and a PhD in plant molecular systematics, both from the Université de Montréal. She also completed a BSc in Plant Biology & Physics at the University of Guelph. She has illustrated a number of scientific research articles, including the description of a newly discovered plant species. Erin’s interests lie in botany, evolution, scientific illustration, and the history of science. Her writing also explores the intersection of science and motherhood. Erin has published nine scientific research papers and is a contributor at New York Magazine, HuffPost, Smithsonian, Undark, and Narratively, among others. She has previously written a blog exploring evolution and miscellaneous topics in biology at Questionable Evolution and produced twice weekly news briefs on emerging plant science research at Botany One.