Matilda Joslyn Gage was the first activist in the world to denounce the social injustice that has always seen women totally under-represented in scientific circles. Her struggle took the name “Matilda Effect“, a movement that emphasises the pointed denial and minimisation of women’s scientific achievements.

Elevating her history and struggles, the non-profit organisation AMIT, with the support of the European Parliament and in collaboration with Dospassos, has created a new awareness campaign. It is entitled “No More Matildas” and is a project created by GettingBetter and produced by Kamestudio to promote the scientific vocation of teenagers and girls.

What would have happened if Albert Einstein, Alexander Fleming and Erwin Schrödinger had been born as women? Well, most likely we would not even know who they are today, because all the credit for their discoveries would have been given to male colleagues. This injustice is the same one that has systematically rendered brilliant female scientists such as Lise Meitner, Henrietta Swan Leavitt and Rosalind Franklin invisible.

The lack of such role models is having a negative impact on the aspirations of today’s women and contributing to a low representation of women in STEM degrees. In this context, female invisibility in science weighs on the possible future of tomorrow’s professional world.

“No More Matildas” intends to denounce the consequences of the Matilda Effect, aims to reclaim the scientific models of history that have been ignored until now and hopes to arouse interest in science among the young female minds of today’s world. AMIT has set out to reclaim the history of these important women and has brought them into textbooks to finally make them new role models.

AMIT has designed two products to redress the injustice and reclaim the importance of women scientists in history.
On the one hand, an insert for primary school textbooks was born, enriched with the names and discoveries of prominent female scientists. On the other hand, a triple illustrated editorial publication was born, imagining what the biographies of Einstein, Fleming and Schrödinger would have been like had they been born women.

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The products produced for the “No More Matildas” campaign are open to journalists, associations and education professionals who wish to contribute to the recovery of under-represented female models. All project materials are also available to be shared and used in any educational activity and can be freely downloaded from the campaign’s official website.

Find out more and share the campaign with everyone using the hashtag #NoMoreMatildas.