1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«In this book, I write about the life and work of women scientists at English-Canadian universities.» (p. 6)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«Why have Canadian women scientists been written out of the historical record? Who were they? What did they accomplish? What were their life paths?» (quatrième de couverture)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
L’auteure utilise des sources premières, notamment des correspondances de femmes scientifiques. De plus, pour la période plus contemporaine elle a interviewé des scientifiques. Ce livre traite notamment de femmes ayant travaillé aux universités McGill et Concordia.

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu
Réflexion critique

3. Résumé

«Ainly 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 trajectories, many women shifted field, coped with discrimination, and endeavored to find niches in which they could make significant contributions.» (quatrième de couverture) Cet ouvrage porte aussi sur la vie familiale et le travail des les femmes scientifiques entre 1920-1950 (chapitre 4) et après 1950 (chapitre 5). «[I]t is clear that women scientists who were mothers did not follow a single model of professional life. […] Some were able to hire help for their children, but many relied on family members and/or friends. The lack of social support networks resulted in some highly imaginative child-care arrangements within and outiside the household. Issues of motherhood and the professions surfaces in the new generation of academics beyong the time frame of this book. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, a younger generation rediscovered the problem and vented its frustration about motherhood [and] academic advancement.» (p. 162-163)