Girls' Education in Science & Maths
Feminist voices also brought changes to the US laborforce structure. The field of science was formerly an exclusive area for men and jobs like engineers, mathematicians, technicians, biologists, architects, software programmers were limited to male workers. The general rationale behind this is that women tend to be inferior to men in the technical fields. However, if we look at women's education, it won't be hard to discover that girls had always been lack of the opportunities to engage in science and math at school. They were not expected to acquire skills in these fields. However, feminist movements made educators see that science should be regarded as a field open to all and there should be no reason to value one gender over the other in incalcating scientific knowledge. This realization led a lot of schools to open up courses to include the girls in scientific education. As a result, a number of exceptional women scientists emerged during the 20th century thanks to this educational reform.
This gallery features Anna Eveleth Holman (1892--1969), a prominent female science teacher who graduated from Radcliffe College in the year of 1914 and had engaged her career with science ever since. In 1928, Holman graduated from Harvard Graduare Schooll of Education and subsequently embarked on her teaching career at St. Helen's Hall, Portland, Oregon from 1914 to 1916. Afterward she transferred to Ferry Hall, Lake Forest, Illinois and stayed there until 1921. She then went to the Winsor School in Boston where she spent about 31 years. Even after her retirement she continued with her science teaching in California and Massachusetts. In addition to sharing her scientific knowledge in the classroom, Anna furthered her scientific research in various organizations and in the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association. Anna Holman is an outstanding example of the boost in scientific education for girls in the twentieth century (Jenkins, William A. “The Educational Scene.” ).
Anna Holman is one of many female beneficiaries from scientific education who grew up to further contribute to the science community by spending their careers as school teachers or researchers. We could get a better sense of the chemistry among feminism, science education, and women scientists and engineers from the universal viewer below. At the end is a short Youtube video titled "History of Women in Science" that offers a brief overview of the history of scientific education for women.