{"id":48670,"date":"2018-07-27T16:55:09","date_gmt":"2018-07-27T20:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=48670"},"modified":"2025-09-30T11:31:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T15:31:48","slug":"women-in-science-exhibit","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/women-in-science-exhibit\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton Instructor Curates Exhibit Highlighting Women in Science at Canadian Museum of Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Carleton Instructor Curates Exhibit Highlighting Women in Science at Canadian Museum of Nature\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Almost 100 years to the date in the exact room where some women in Canada received the right to vote, Carleton University Women\u2019s and Gender Studies<\/a> Instructor Cindy Stelmackowich<\/a> is preparing to launch an exhibit she curated, highlighting the stories and contributions of women scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The room at the Canadian Museum of Nature (known back then as the Victoria Memorial Museum) is where the House of Commons sat for four years from 1916 to 1920 following a devastating fire in the old Centre Block of Parliament Hill. It is here that the federal government granted some women the right to vote federal election. This did not include women of colour, Indigenous women and many women with disabilities, who had to fight to obtain the right to vote until the 1940s<\/a> and 1960s<\/a> and 1980s<\/a> respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibit, titled Courage and Passion: Canadian Women in Natural Sciences, aims to highlight women in the natural science fields which encompasses a number of different studies, from biology and chemistry to oceanography and paleontology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Women
Cindy Stelmackowich<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Courage and Passion<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are trailblazers \u2026 all deserving of wider recognition,\u201d says Meg Beckel, president and CEO of the Canadian Museum of Nature. \u201cMany of these unsung heroines did their work away from the spotlight, but their stories should be known by all Canadians, especially young people with a passion for science,\u201d she added in a press release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibit will open on July 28 and will run until March of 2019, featuring a collection of artifacts, specimens, videos and archival documents related to the powerful work Canadian women in science have accomplished from the 17th century to the present day. The exhibit tracks the evolution of the uneven and often discriminatory relationship between gender and science while highlighting the gender and social barriers women have and continue to face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn this exhibit, \u2018she\u2019 is treated as more than just a footnote,\u201d Stelmackowich says. \u201cYou will find that courageous stories of women in science prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stelmackowich involved students in her fourth-year Women\u2019s and Gender Studies seminar in the exhibit. She invited students in the class \u2014 which explored the representation of women\u2019s scientific contributions \u2014 to complete in-depth research projects exploring the work of Canadian women in science throughout history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir projects served as preliminary research sources for the exhibit,\u201d Stelmackowich says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carleton Biology<\/a> . Jeff Dawson<\/a> also contributed to the exhibit by donating some of his early scientific instruments to the collection for display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Addressing Barriers for Women in Science<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the exhibit\u2019s main goals, Stelmackowich adds, is to address the gender imbalance in science and the barriers which continue to exist for girls and young women considering careers in the area of study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a career I never foresaw for myself as a child\u201d but \u201cyou are smart enough, despite what some third grader may have told you,\u201d says Danielle Fraser<\/a>, a paleontologist with the museum. \u201cDuring my youth, women scientists seemed few and far between \u2026 but science is really where women shine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women scientists hold only 30 per cent of available positions of Canada Research Chairs program, according to the Government of Canada<\/a>. Meanwhile, a study<\/a> published in 2017 in the journal Science showed that by age six, girls are already less likely than boys to describe their gender as \u201cbrilliant\u201d or to join an activity for \u201cvery smart\u201d kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to show these girls and young women powerful mentors in science,\u201d Stelmackowich says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost 100 years to the date in the exact room where some women in Canada received the right to vote, Carleton University Women\u2019s and Gender Studies Instructor Cindy Stelmackowich is preparing to launch an exhibit she curated, highlighting the stories and contributions of women scientists. The room at the Canadian Museum of Nature (known back then as the Victoria […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":48675,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[1931],"cu_story_tag":[1930,1919],"class_list":["post-48670","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-social-innovation","cu_story_tag-equity-diversity-and-inclusion","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-science"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/48670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/48670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98121,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/48670\/revisions\/98121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=48670"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=48670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}