Until very recently, women with an interest in geology have had to fight harder than their male contemporaries for access to education and equal recognition.
Dr Katie Strang, Curator of Mineralogy-Petrology at The Hunterian, takes a closer look at how these barriers came to exist in the past.
The story of women in geology is one of unsung contributions.
From plate tectonics to the evolution of life on earth, women have played a crucial role in Scottish geology since its emergence as a scientific discipline. Despite this, the history of geology has largely been told through the accomplishments of men, whilst the contributions of women are frequently overlooked, ignored and forgotten.
The absence of women in the history of geology is not merely an oversight; it is a direct consequence of the deep-rooted gender biases and structural barriers that continue to persist throughout the sciences and wider society today.
Over the last few years, many institutions have made attempts to confront these silences and highlight the important contributions women have made, as well as the struggles they still encounter. And although museum collections and archives are valuable sources for reconstructing the historical record, they are far from perfect, and museums have played a role in perpetuating these absences.
The reasons behind this legacy of exclusion of women geologists across museum collections are complex. To unravel them we need to first understand the social, cultural, and political context which helped fuel these gender biases in the first place.
Unravelling Legacies of Exclusion
The late eighteenth through mid-nineteenth centuries are widely recognised as representing a key period in the evolution of geology as a scientific discipline.
It was during this time that James Hutton developed his early theories about the age and formation of the Earth and published his influential 1788 treatise, “Theory of the Earth”, which helped pave the way for a whole new branch of science.
At the same time, the industrial revolution was bringing about societal change in Britain, including the division of labour and the reinforcement of gender roles. Academia and professional science were viewed as a man’s world and women were expected to stay at home attending to household and childcare duties.
Society as a whole did not support the ambitions of women as professional geologists until the late 20th century. However, the emergence of a largely non-professional culture of natural sciences in the early 19th century saw geology becoming a popular and fashionable past time.
Within these informal settings, women were usually welcomed as fellow enthusiasts, often working as field assistants, secretaries, educators, collectors and illustrators alongside their male relatives.
Regardless, when it came to accessing education, employment opportunities, equal pay and professional recognition, those women with an interest in geology were required to fight harder than their male contemporaries.
The relegation of women to “assistant” positions, their exclusion from scientific societies and institutions, and the enforcement of policies preventing married women from receiving a salary alongside their husband, are just some of structural barriers they faced.
And not all women gained access to higher education equally. The small minority of women who were able to prosper, and go on to be remembered, form only a tiny percentage of privileged white women, leaving out many diverse and underrepresented voices.
Whilst gender stereotypes and biases have been significant contributing factors, sexism, racism, ableism, and classism have all erected barriers to success. An intersectional approach is crucial to understanding the various ways Black, Indigenous, and women scientists of colour face distinct challenges.
Highlighting Women’s Contributions
The representation of women scientists within museums has a complex and multi-layered history, particularly in the context of natural history collections.
The opportunities available to women, how they received credit for their work (if at all), and how they were impacted by different socio-economic factors, all have a role to play in the way they have been documented and recognised.
It wasn’t uncommon for women to undertake a variety of roles in museums, both curatorial and other, but this was usually in the form of voluntary work. Gaining paid employment was incredibly hard, and for many women it was impossible because of the barriers in place. And the way in which these museum careers were structured has helped fuel this perception that women’s contributions amounted to nothing more than them being silent assistants.
Take Agnes Neilson, for example. As we delved deeper into the historic catalogues, we noticed how often her name and initials appeared. The evidence of her existence was quite literally hidden in plain sight as footnotes and annotations.
The most detailed source of information was taken from her obituary, published in the journal Nature, by her colleague, George Walter Tyrrell.
From this, we learned that Agnes Thomson Neilson MA worked as a self-funded demonstrator and unpaid assistant curator in The Hunterian until 1910, before being appointed as the first female staff member of the Geological Department of the University of Glasgow – making her the Department’s first ever female employee.
Surely there would be a wealth of departmental records and photos of the first ever female member of staff?
Nope. Instead, it was yet another lesson on the ways in which bias and historic recordkeeping practices have obscured women’s contributions. There was no shortage of departmental photos showing male staff members, and most were properly documented with names noted on the reverse and/or in associated paperwork.
But photographs of women were in the minority and documented in less active ways. After looking through hundreds of images, eventually a photograph was uncovered in The University of Glasgow’s Archives & Special Collections, which had been annotated to name Miss Neilson and two of her male colleagues.
Unsurprisingly, this image was filed away amongst a batch of personal papers and correspondence that had been attributed to the men in the picture, and if it wasn’t for active searching there would be no way of knowing that this image even existed.
The Hunterian archive contains records of historic correspondence between staff, donors and researchers etc., particularly dating to the pre-digital era. These are filed and organised by name, but contrary to almost every other Curator before and after Miss Neilson, she didn’t have a dedicated folder. Instead, various documents including letters and field notes were found hidden within folders assigned to her male colleagues.
We were also forced to search outwith the museum and university archives in hope of filling in these gaps. We scoured old census records and newspaper articles and even tracked down her gravestone in the Glasgow Necropolis.
Unfortunately, the specific details around her roles and contributions remain elusive, but as our search progressed, we began uncovering the names of more and more women, and started piecing together their connections to one another.
It’s clear that in the face of discrimination and structural barriers, women still found their way into institutionalised science. They developed networks of support with other women to help overcome these obstacles, and mapping and contextualising these networks can help shine light on the countless other women who have previously been written out of history.
Increasing Diversity in Science
Women in science are everywhere, and they have long contributed to the field of geology, but to uncover their stories we need to broaden our understanding of what constitutes science and how it manifests in the historical record.
It must be underwritten by intersectionality to counteract the erasure of the contributions of women with co-marginalised identities: including trans-women, women of colour, working-class women, and women who are disabled.
Increased diversity in science leads to more scientific innovation, and as we look to the future in the face of the climate crisis, it is vital that we break down these barriers to create a more diverse and equitable community of scientists. The exclusion of minoritised groups from scientific research, knowledge, and associated power harms our science and is unethical.
‘Women on the Rocks’ is a collaborative project and exhibition between The Hunterian, members of GeoNatter, The National Library of Scotland, The Geological Society of Glasgow and Glasgow Museums, which aims to explore how women are represented in The Hunterian’s geology collections and highlight the achievements of those previously lost to history. It is on display at Kelvin Hall until Sunday 16 March 2025.
Girls into Geoscience
Girls into Geoscience Scotland is an initiative that is designed to introduce girls into Geosciences through talks and workshops. It brings together women from industry, government bodies, academia and schools in order to highlight and promote the role Geoscience has in our society.
Geo Natter at Kelvin Hall
Geo Natter is an informal geology session organised by The Hunterian and the Geological Society of Glasgow, held in Kelvin Hall on the first Wednesday of the month from 1.30–3.00pm. Everyone is welcome to bring along their finds for identification, chat informally to other rock and fossil enthusiasts, ask questions about geology and find out what’s happening locally.
There are more brilliant blogs stretching right across our collection for you to explore – covering coins, medals and much more!
