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Lens of Life: Looking at Jane Goodall



The story of Jane Goodall is a story about the importance of a strong role model and supporter through generations and across species. Jane Goodall lived an incredible life and did an episode of Call Her Daddy with Alex Cooper before she passed away, and in that episode, Jane discussed the role her mother played in her life and in shaping her career, which changed the lives of so many young women.


Our mothers are often the first female examples we have in our lives; they help shape our understanding and experiences and help show us our place in the world. Jane Goodall's mother did just that. Jane was a historic figure not only for the scientific study of animals out in the wild but also for strong women in the world.


Jane was born in 1934 in Great Britain. Great Britain joined World War II in 1939. Her father joined the war when she was young, and she grew up surrounded by her grandmother, mother, and aunts. The right to vote had only been granted to all women over the age of 21, 6 years before Jane was born. While she was growing up, despite the effects of both wars, women were still not afforded access to the same political and educational freedom as men. Many career paths and intellectual endeavors were closed off to them by society.


From an early age, Jane was interested in animals and in asking questions. She wanted to live in Africa with the wild animals, inspired by Dr. Dolittle and Tarzan. Which were among the many books she entertained herself with as a child. The world wasn't accepting of women with those dreams, and the world would have crushed her hopes, "But I had this great mother who always used to say, Jane if you want to do something enough and you work hard enough and you take advantage of opportunities, you'll get there in the end." Jane's mother not only served her daughter's future by inspiring Jane, but she also offered herself for Jane's first scientific trip. "When I was told by the British authorities that it wouldn't be appropriate for me to go out completely on my own without some kind of female companion, my mother was the one who offered to come."


It was unheard of for women like Jane and her mother to go to Africa. "Everybody laughed at me. How could I go to Africa? We didn't have any money. It was during the second world war there were no jets going over with tourists, and we just heard rumors about, you know, poisoned arrows and sinister drumbeat messages and things like that. But my mother never laughed." Together, Jane and her mother broke the stereotype, and Jane and her scientific partner developed new ways of conducting studies on animals. She believed in the entrenchment in their habitat and disrupting the animals as little as possible. It was a commitment, and Jane spent years developing relationships with the animals and building the scientific infrastructure to develop high-level studies.


When she had a child, Jane decided to continue her work in the field with her son. People would say, "Oh well, you were lucky, you could do your research and stay with your child. But in fact, I made this conscious decision to spend time with him because I felt it was important. That meant that I actually stopped following the chimps." Jane made compromises when it came to her scientific endeavors, but she remained committed to both aspects of her life. The chimps gave her perspective on motherhood and the nature of that relationship that she wouldn't have had otherwise: "I consciously though that what I'd learned from watching the chimpanzee mothers was very appropriate for raising a human child. I think that one of the things I learned that's really significant in relation to raising human children is that there are very different kinds of mothering. In the wild, we find good mothers and bad mothers, and the good mother will be attentive, protective, tolerant, playful, affectionate, and above all, supportive. And the mother who is on the poorer end of the scale tends to be rather harsh or cold in her treatment of the baby, to be less supportive, less affectionate, less tolerant, and much less playful."


Jane's story illustrates how important it is to have a mother who supports you, and we can see the sacrifices that both Jane and her mother made for their children. Both so they could experience new things and so their children could see that the world is all theirs to explore.


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