Around the start of the 1920s, the situation of female chemists in the photographic manufacturing industry was literally and figuratively explosive, for their record in conducting hazardous organic syntheses made the research director of the largest photographic firm conclude that chemistry was not an appropriate field for women. About two decades later, by contrast, the photographic industry had developed into one of a relatively small number of industries where female chemists had obtained recognition and promotions not only as librarians, patent professionals, and chemical analysts but also as experimental and theoretical investigators in research and development laboratories. This article suggests that to make sense of this turnabout, it is crucial to carefully examine the position of women chemists in corporate organisational structures and hierarchies, including the possible unintended consequences of segregating women into separate scientific labs and/or teams. This study’s findings also point to the value of using scientific groups and labs as units of analysis in historical research on women scientists in industry, an approach that could be extended to other cases and might help stimulate more dialogue between historians of corporate science and R&D on one hand and historians of women and gender in science on the other.

大约在 1920 年代初期，女性化学家在摄影制造业中的处境简直是爆炸性的，因为她们在进行危险有机合成方面的记录使最大的摄影公司的研究主管得出结论，化学不适合女性. 相比之下，大约 20 年后，摄影业已发展成为为数不多的行业之一，在这些行业中，女性化学家不仅作为图书馆员、专利专业人员和化学分析师，而且作为研究中的实验和理论调查员，获得了认可和晋升。和开发实验室。本文建议，为了理解这种转变，仔细检查女性化学家在公司组织结构和等级制度中的地位至关重要，包括将女性隔离到不同的科学实验室和/或团队可能产生的意外后果。这项研究的结果还指出，在对工业界女科学家的历史研究中，使用科学团体和实验室作为分析单位的价值，这种方法可以扩展到其他案例，并可能有助于激发企业科学历史学家和研发部门之间的更多对话。一方面是科学中的女性和性别历史学家。