Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology

by Autumn Stanley

Written in an engaging and accessible style, this first broadly focused compensatory history of technology not only includes women's contributions but begins the long-overdue task of redefining technology and significant technology and to value these contributions correctly. Stanley traces women's inventions in five vital areas of technology worldwide--agriculture, medicine, reproduction, machines, and computers--from prehistory (or origin) forward, profiling hundreds of women, both famous and obscure. The author does not ignore theory. She contributes a paradigm for male takeovers of technologies originated by women.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Technology

Hardcover

First published August 1, 1994

Reviews

[Don Glickstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the seminal, ground-breaking study of women inventors, exhaustive in its ambition and breadth, and well-written to boot. Ms Stanley makes a convincing case that women are innately as inventive and creative as men—from their invention of agriculture in prehistoric days, to various methods of birth control throughout history, to modern-day technology. She forces us to look at the invention process in new ways, and to better understand how the acknowledgement of women's accomplishments were muted by a variety of societal factors. That Ms Stanley was able to compile her information long before the days of mass digitalization is a wonder. Meticulously sourced, it contains no undermining feminist rhetoric—just an overwhelming exposition of facts. It reminded me of the relentless documentation of Solzhynitsyn's Gulag Archipelago, but with a more uplifting topic.

[Albie]

Mothers and Daughters of Invention by Autumn Stanley (1994)