The next in our series of historical women in STEM, career tips, and community questions!
Got ideas or want to share your story? We’d love to hear from you! 🙂 >> erin@feminstem.co.uk & zahrah@feminstem.co.uk. 💜
Weekly STEMspiration ⭐️
Historical Women in STEM
This week we’re spotlighting Mary Seacole, an incredible woman who spent her life on the front lines of war, providing food, medicine, and care to injured soldiers. Yet, she is often mentioned briefly in history, usually in the shadow of Florence Nightingale.
Seacole built her medical knowledge by aiding her mother who ran a boarding house for sick and wounded soldiers. When the Crimean War broke out, Mary Seacole travelled to England and applied to the War Office, various medical departments, and Florence Nightingale’s nursing group. She was rejected from every single one. These rejections were rooted completely in race, gender, class, and her not fitting into the “image of a proper nurse”.
Instead of accepting this, she established the British Hotel in Crimea where she provided care, food and comfort on top of the treatment needed for these soldiers. Her truly affectionate and attentive care ultimately earned her the name “Mother Seacole” from other soldiers.
Despite her incredible contributions, when she returned to Britain, she was left financially ruined without any pension or institutional support. This is when the soldiers who remembered her care stepped up, and a public fundraising effort ultimately prevented her from dying in poverty.
It took more than a century for her courageous efforts to finally be widely acknowledged. Her autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands, remains one of the earliest memoirs by a Black woman in Britain. She forces us to ask difficult questions about who gets remembered in history, and she reminds us that when doors are closed, creating your own path can change lives.
Career Tip ⭐️
A quick one on imposter syndrome
Feeling like you don’t belong in STEM is so common, and can feel especially prominent as a woman in male-dominated fields. It affects a lot of us so we wanted to share some quick tips that might help.
Here are a few ways to manage these feelings:
💜 Talk about it (majority of the time your peers will feel the same way)
💜 Try not to compare yourself to what you see online because what we see is only half the picture
💜 Remind yourself it’s ok to ask questions – it’s how we learn and grow
💜 Remember that failure is part of the learning process and everyone works at their own pace
Ask the Community 💜
What would you most like from FeminSTEM in 2026?
| 1. Webinars |
| 2. In-person events |
| 3. Career workshops |
| 4. Career resources |
Let me know in the comments ⬇️ Or send me a message > erin@feminstem.co.uk 💜
| Get Involved |
| Got an idea for newsletter segments? Let us know by replying to this email! If you’re a STEM employer >> talk to me about your plans to improve inclusivity for women in STEM, let’s see how we can get you there together. If you’re a woman in STEM >> reach out and have your story featured! Young women need to see the generation of women before them working in industry to be inspired, that could be you! |
Thanks for being part of feminSTEM.
Erin 💜
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