Incorporating lessons from women naturalists to support biodiversity education and under-represented students

Contributions of women naturalists have enriched our scientific understanding of the natural world since the seventeenth century. However, this analysis of natural history compilations shows far more entries from and about men rather than naturalists while often including none or no more than two or three contributions from women naturalists. For life science education, lack of such information limits student exposure to a diversity of naturalists at a time when greater emphasis is placed on reaching under-represented students, with increasingly diversified backgrounds and perspectives. This article first explores evidence and explanations for this absence using a bibliometric mapping analysis (which in and of themselves supply information for meaningful teaching moments) and secondly, explains why availability of such would help engage students to meet concerns regarding biodiversity declines needing correction by 2050. These two analyses taken together form the framework used to consider the compiled information from an educational perspective. From 2022 until 2050, only 12 years remain for students to complete secondary science, move onto higher education, and emerge eligible for work. Including lessons about women naturalists could help reach under-represented students by allowing student-to-lesson affinities to occur based on either the topical nature of the naturalist’s research; the geographic/cultural inclinations, or the era of the naturalist’s work. Research to address matters described here begin with a pilot scoping review and bibliographic analysis, revealing lists of natural history compilations (publications). In closing, a group of selected women naturalists from this study serve as examples for inclusion in life science curriculum.