Making do with less: fieldwork by the first female recipients of the Percy Sladen Memorial Fund between 1905–1950 (Patron's Review 2020)

The Percy Sladen Memorial Fund provides an ideal focus for examining the changing access to funded scientific fieldwork experienced by women in the early twentieth century. The fund was endowed by Constance Sladen (née Anderson) in 1904 in memory of her late husband, the zoologist Walter Percy Sladen. In its first forty-five years, the fund supported an enormous volume of scientific research, with awards made not only to renowned female researchers, but also to women who remain poorly known. In its first year, the fund made awards to both male and a female recipient, but up to 1950 the number of grants given to men (86%) far exceeded those given to women (11%). Despite more openings in the scientific establishment for women in the first half of the twentieth century, they still experienced restricted access to international fieldwork. Examining fieldwork conducted by female awardees highlights women’s changing opportunities and the uneven distribution of support they received from the scientific establishment. It also shows the ingenuity and thrift female researchers employed to make their monies last and how female peer support networks were often crucial to making fieldwork possible.