The Role Of Women and Feminist Historiography

Since the 19th century women’s roles in the construction of geographical knowledge are thought to have been minimal. Feminist epistemology implies that the geographical knowledge that we use today is based on a masculine narrative and that the gender disparity that was present in the ninetieth and twentieth century is crucial to acknowledge when examining the construction of geographical knowledge. To accurately evaluate the role of women, one must look at feminist historiography that “would require an exploration of the relationship between its social practices and the gender stereo typing of society as a whole.

” In the 19th century, women’s academics were supressed as a result of male dominance, sexism was extremely present, where women were expected to be housewives that simply cooked cleaned and nurtured their offspring. As a result, women struggled to produce respected and credible knowledge, however, they still managed to play a key part in the construction of the knowledge we use today. Throughout this essay, I will examine both the importance and the type of role women had in the development of geographical knowledge, by firstly studying Donna Haraway’s theory of situated knowledges which stresses the importance of feminist historiography due to the subjective nature of knowledge.

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Following on from this I will explore first-hand accounts of female travellers during the 19th century, such as Isabella Bird, that will demonstrate how essential the research that women conducted was regarding the development of feminist historiography. Furthermore, it is also important to compare the male and female experiences of travel and research, and the exclusion and implications of women throughout the 19th and 20th century.

This would enable an intuitive look into the historiography of the construction of geographical knowledge and enable one to see that the role of women was vital.

In the opinion of feminist scholars, Donna Haraway and Sandra Harding the authority of vision is directly linked to the practices of looking to the patriarchal nature of western societies. They believe “a masculinist bias of science originated from the exclusion of women and the privileging of sight and vision that give power and sexual pleasure to the male Western observer.” Consequently, in order to counter hegemonic authority of science and its ability to subordinate, feminists rely on an alternative epistemology which describes modern science, in western communities, as the vision of a white heterosexual man that is merely disguised as universal and objective when in fact it is situated knowledge that is based on gender and location. This is due to the exclusion and lack of respect for woman’s research that was undertaken in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The 19th century is particularly relevant in terms of the construction of knowledge since “this was the period that witnessed the increasing institutionalization and discursive bounding as geography as a discipline.” At the same time, women were embarking on their first travels to do geographical research, yet their work was yet to be recognised by institutions. As geography became more defined and established by institutions, the exclusion of women increased at the same rate. Travel is an indispensable aspect of geography since it is required in order to do any type of research, whether it be on a local or global level. Isabella Bird is a prime example of an unjust lack of respect in terms of her academics since she was a woman. Despite having trekked the Rocky Mountains, reaching heights of 1100 ft, and carrying out systematic and professional research she was still rejected from joining the Royal Geographical Society. It was only in 1943 that the first women were elected as fellows of the RGS which gave them the recognition and credibility for their work they deserved. Bird managed to withstand the suppression and was eventually recognised by the RGS and was invited to address the RGS council, however she declined the invitation on the basis that if women were not allowed to be accepted as fellows why should they share their research and knowledge with the RGS community. Domosh argues that “a group of Victorian women travellers made a specific and distinctive contribution to the emergence of the discipline”. Isabella bird is just one of the influential females that proves this statement to be true. Therefore, “A history that considers the viewpoint of women’s experiences and gender relations in it understanding of context is the only true history.” Otherwise, you are limiting research and information by not including the female perspective. This proves how important women’s roles were, through travelling and conducting research, during the 19th century.

The conditions for woman’s travels in the 19th century were very contrasting to those of men. Bird was only able to travel as a result of her upper-middle class background, since unlike men, women’s travels were not supported, meaning her trip was fully self-funded. Another woman who contributed to the construction of geographical knowledge despite the odds was Sidnie Manton. She assisted with the biological side of an expedition to the Great Barrier reef through observations on the breeding of reef animals and the growth of corals. The expedition leader Yonge went on to say “Sidnie did as much in those few months as the rest of us did in four times that period” proving the significant impact her work had. At the same time, in the geographical section of the expedition, James steers aimed “to advance the current knowledge on the origin of reef foundations and to establish the relationship of the coastline to submerged reefs, cays, and continental islands.” However, despite all his research, minimal new knowledge regarding the reef’s geological origin was acquired. Both Manton and Steers were from the University of Cambridge, with Manton being the first woman to receive academic funding and leave for travel from the university. Even though Manton was due to be at the great barrier reef expedition for double the amount of time Steers was, she received half the amount of funding, which suggests the university unfairly regarded his research worthier than hers.

Whilst females during the 19th and 20th centuries were undermined, being a woman also had its advantages when travelling, in terms of research. Caucasian women were welcomed into harems and zenanas, which were the homes of hundreds of Eastern women, for the purpose of the study. Men, on the other hand, were not permitted into these female dwellings. “This relation of marginalization allowed feminist travellers to advance the status of European women by showing gender hierarchy in another context.” Therefore, women travellers managed to conduct research and gain expertise in an area that men would have never have been able to encounter. Therefore, feminists had an influential role in the construction of geographical knowledge through creating a new perspective despite the attempted suppression of female academics.

The amateur and professional dichotomy is the main basis for the argument behind the exclusion of women from geographical knowledge in the 19th and 20th centuries. “Amateur science, with its association with the domestic sphere, was open both to a minority of middle-class women and to men, but professional science, located in the public realm, was solely the pursuit of men.” Male dominance led the population to believe that women were incapable of contributing to the practice of scientific geography. This creates the two spheres of space: laboratory and domestic. “Laboratory operations were not dissimilar from those in the kitchen, so women were allowed to function in there – women were denied access to the laboratories of academic and learned institutions, many middle-class women were actively encouraged to engage in scientific pursuits in the private, domestic laboratory.” Therefore, middle class women ended up being the unpaid invisible assistants to men, whether it be scientific fathers, husbands or brothers in the home, that would participate in the labour but not get the recognition for it. Examples of such women include: Anna Blackburne, the daughter and ’companion’ of a wealthy natural historian, whom Erasmus Darwin referred to as ’learned and ingenious; Sarah Abbot, wife of naturalist Charles Abbot, who worked closely with her husband on his botanical projects and publications; and Mary Kingsley, who translated German anthropology for her father, George. Their work was invaluable yet would only occur in the private sphere.

The reason women like the ones mentioned were the silent assistants was because they were denied access to academic training that would give them the status of a scientist. They were barred from universities, with the admission of females in European countries only being a recent phenomenon. This caused women to be undermined academically and meant there was an absence of appearances from them at conferences and among presenters of conference papers. This ultimately reduced the exposure of the findings from their research within the epistemic community and so limited the networking opportunities which would have given them the necessary acknowledgement. In addition, despite their research being accurate, male dominance once again interjected and claimed they were using the wrong language. If someone’s view were not in line with the standards of scientific geography, they simply were not included in history. Therefore, they ended up removing “I” from their reports, in an attempt to make their research seem more professional. Consequently, their work did not become more widely known, resulting in women not being invited to be guest speakers at lectures or join research collaborations. Evidently, women struggled to have a direct impact on the construction of geographical knowledge, however, their role was imperative since through their resilience and modesty they shaped the knowledge produced, predominantly from behind the scenes.

According to Haraway and her theory of situated knowledges, “all knowledge comes from a particular location and cannot claim to be objective truth.” Geographical knowledge that has been constructed is location based, westernised knowledge and that what ones knows, or experiences reflects their social, cultural or historical standpoint. “Feminist objectivity means quite simply situated knowledges” .Feminists aim to be objective through what Haraway describes as ‘the God trick’ where knowledge is gained from an unbiased and impartial perspective through a “view from above, from nowhere” . Consequently, without female historiography, the knowledge we understand today would be purely a man’s tale and therefore cannot be unprejudiced or true. Thus since “knowledge is as much of a product of who defines it as of some objective reality” it is important to include all perspectives of knowledge. This is why the feminist historiography is so important.

Geographical knowledge should not be seen as a heteronormative discipline since it is the prerogative of wealthy, white men and restricts the perspective of people with a different social background, gender or race. Therefore, to make geographical and scientific knowledge impartial, one must recognise both genders as having essential roles in the construction of geographical knowledge. To be able to rewrite a complete historiography we must respect all sources of information. According to Domosh “a reassessment both of the particular historical reasons for the invisibility of women in the discipline and the traditional belief that new scientific practices such as codified fieldwork is necessary by products of the search for knowledge” when thinking about the construction of knowledge. Despite the attempted exclusion of their research and experience women have provided a fundamental perspective through the feminist historiography. Women travellers in the 19th century influenced knowledge through sharing their experiences that no man would have been able to encounter as well as conducting precise and professional research. Following on from that, women in the 20th century fought the suppression and furthered the knowledge that women in the 19th century introduced. Therefore, as you can see, the role of women throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, whether it be women travellers, ‘invisible assistants’ or educators was imperative.