Anne Innis Dagg (born 1933, in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian zoologist, biologist, feminist, and author of numerous books - about giraffes. (Wikipedia)

Nov 14, 2017 - Waterloo Women's Studies affiliate Anne Innis Dagg has won the Lane Anderson Award for excellence in science writing - about giraffes.. (Google)

And last week a remarkable film opened the Hot Docs Festival in Toronto, about Anne Dagg - and about giraffes.

I was moved, touched, inspired and angered by her story. From the age of 3 she has had a life long passion for giraffes and made it to Africa to study them up close by the age of 23, against all odds, the contrary odds being that she was female. She wrote the for-a-long-time-definitive book about giraffes, earned a B.A. in Biology (1955) and an MA. in Genetics (1956), taught at Guelph University, fired when she married because her husband also taught there and married women couldn’t be on staff; and was denied tenure so many times she finally quit in despair (and had three children), passed over by men with far fewer credentials, because she was a woman. These roadblocks in her career anger me. You’ll note the date of the Award, cited above, for excellence in science writing - 1917 - when she was 84.

I can’t say enough here. You should see her film, opening in Toronto - next week, I think.