ABSTRACT
“Lady Anthropologists” is what the public called women in the profession during the Classic era, and there was quite a crew: Ruth Benedict, Ruth Bunzel, Dorothy Eggan, Esther Goldfrank, Alice Fletcher, Frederica deLaguna, Dorothy Lee, Margaret Mead, Hortense Powdermaker, Gladys Reichard, and of course the odd case of Elsie Clews Parsons, a wealthy patron of anthropology, but who also did ethnology. Most of them were students of Franz Boas, who deserves a posthumous medal from feminist groups for his pioneering effort to induct women into the social sciences. In general, Classic anthropology was well known for its acceptance of women—it was far ahead of sociology. The label, “lady anthropologists” is of course no longer used, but the feminist movement has glorified some of these women, especially Mead and Benedict, and they have become role models for later generations. In their day, they were singled out as the “famous” lady anthropologists. Most of the women followed the leads of Mead and Benedict on intellectual matters, so that psychological and humanist styles of scholarship have come to typify the interests of the feminine contingent in the discipline.
