A-Infos (en) Italy, FDCA, Cantiere #45 - Science, Power, and Patriarchy: The Story of Margarete Traube, a Woman Who Challenged a System Built to Exclude Her - Stefania Baschieri (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The history of science is often told as a sequence of brilliant 
discoveries, the product of brilliant minds who challenged the limits of 
their time. However, this linear and celebratory narrative hides a 
significant absence: that of women.  ---- For centuries, patriarchal 
culture has defined science as a male domain, relegating women to the 
margins, denying them access to education, laboratories, academies and, 
above all, recognition. ---- The exclusion of women from science is 
certainly not an accident of history, but the result of a patriarchal 
system that for centuries has defined who could produce knowledge, who 
could access education, and who could be recognized as a rational and 
authoritative subject.

For centuries, women were barred from advanced secondary schools, 
universities, scientific academies, and laboratories. The patriarchal 
assumption was that women were "naturally" unsuited to abstract thought 
or experimentation.

Until the late nineteenth century, European universities were 
male-dominated institutions, and women were excluded not only from 
studies but also from professorships, research grants, official 
publications, and scientific societies. Many female scientists worked 
without pay, qualifications, or recognition; and even when women 
produced science, their contributions were often attributed to men 
(husbands, colleagues, mentors), published under obviously male 
pseudonyms, ignored in citations, or considered "assistance" rather than 
research. For this reason, many female scientists could only work in 
private laboratories or in facilities provided by "enlightened" colleagues.

The story of Margarete Traube, a German chemist who worked in Germany 
and Italy between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, represents an 
emblematic case of this systemic exclusion.

Through its history, it is possible to understand how science has never 
been neutral, but rather deeply intertwined with the power structures of 
society.

Born in 1856 into a family of German Jewish scientists and 
intellectuals, Margarete grew up in an intellectually stimulating 
environment. Yet despite her talent and informal education, she was 
unable to enroll in university because Germany at the time did not offer 
women full access to education.

In 1877, she decided to move to Italy, where, despite many 
contradictions, women were relatively more likely to be admitted to 
universities. In 1883, she graduated from Sapienza University with a 
degree in Natural Sciences, becoming one of the first women to earn a 
scientific degree.

Traube worked with some of the leading Italian scientists of the time. 
His research covered diverse topics, yet was united by a common thread: 
the relationship between chemical phenomena and physiological processes.

Her most significant contributions include    studies on skin 
permeability (forerunners of concepts now fundamental in pharmacology), 
research on colloid chemistry (an emerging field that would play a 
decisive role in modern biochemistry), but she was forced to carry out 
her research and work in private laboratories or with available 
colleagues, since academic institutions did not recognize her as having 
an official position.

Despite being a brilliant researcher and scientist, Traube never 
obtained a professorship or a stable academic position. Her exclusion 
certainly wasn't due to the quality of her research, but rather to her 
identity as a woman. Many of her contributions are considered 
"collaborations" rather than independent research. Her name, therefore, 
remains marginalized in official publications.

But the patriarchal structure doesn't just exclude women from scientific 
spaces: it defines what counts as science, who can do it, and what 
results are considered valid. Margarete is a clear example: her work is 
scientifically sound, but institutionally invisible.

Margarete Traube was not only a brilliant scientist, but a profoundly 
modern figure: a woman who challenged a system built to exclude her and 
who managed to break down the obstacles posed by a patriarchal system 
through her scientific excellence, her cultural authority, and her 
commitment to women's education.

But Margarete was also an intellectual and a feminist with a strong 
vocation for social commitment aimed at the most vulnerable.

Hers was a profound, coherent, and multifaceted commitment, closely 
intertwined with her life as a scientist, mother, and cosmopolitan 
intellectual. It was not limited to theoretical claims, but translated 
into concrete actions, writings, networking, and participation in 
organized movements such as the National Women's Union, where she 
maintained relationships with other protagonists of Italian and European 
feminism, including Sibilla Aleramo and Teresa Labriola.

The main areas of her activism concerned the fight for women's suffrage 
and civil rights; she fought for the abolition of marital authorization 
(the husband had to approve his wife's legal acts), for the protection 
of minors and for greater female autonomy.

One of the most controversial issues was the denunciation of the 
professional secrecy requirement for doctors treating venereal diseases 
in men, whose consequences affected women (marital contagion). He called 
for greater openness on the topic of sexuality and promoted a secular 
and unhypocritical vision of reproductive health.

These demands, which were certainly avant-garde in Italy at the time, 
where women had very few rights, exposed her to scandal and criticism, 
but demonstrated her ability to tackle social issues considered taboo.

Hers was a secular feminism, certainly bourgeois, but rooted in real 
life and deeply sensitive to inequalities.

This led her to also deal with broader social issues, coming into 
contact, through her niece (a philanthropist and activist), with the 
reality of rural families decimated by poverty and malaria in the Agro 
Pontino.

At the end of the 19th century, the Pontine Marshes were one of the 
poorest and most unhealthy areas in Italy, and the living conditions of 
farmers and their families were extremely harsh, with extremely high 
infant mortality and a lack of healthcare. It was in this context that 
Traube decided to intervene, bringing his science to the poor and those 
suffering from malaria: here, his science became political action, not 
just research.

He collaborated with doctors and hygienists - including Angelo Celli - 
supporting prevention initiatives, health education, quinine 
distribution, and improving hygiene conditions.

The fight against malaria in that area was a political and social 
battle, because it mainly affected the poor.

Her villa in Anzio, the summer residence of her husband's family, became 
a place of support for the most vulnerable. There, she sheltered 
children suffering from malaria, young people weakened by poverty, and 
women in need; she offered adequate nutrition, rest, medical care, and a 
healthy environment near the sea.

Her commitment was particularly directed towards women who were most 
affected by poverty, offering concrete support to single mothers, basic 
education to girls, and spreading hygiene practices as a tool for 
emancipation.

Traube's work in the Pontine Marshes was not simply philanthropy: it was 
the expression of a clear political vision according to which scientific 
research must serve society and progress must include the most 
vulnerable. Through his work, Traube successfully combined science, 
ethics, and civic engagement, pioneering a modern concept of science's 
social responsibility.

In conclusion, Margarete Traube was not only a brilliant scientist, but 
a profoundly modern figure: a woman who challenged a system built to 
exclude her. Her life illuminates the power dynamics that shaped modern 
science and demonstrates how women's emancipation is essential for 
scientific and social progress.

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