Hear Me Roar: A memoir about zookeeping, and what animals taught me about feminism
Hear Me Roar: A memoir about zookeeping, and what animals taught me about feminism
In the early 1980s, when Erna Walraven decided to follow her dreams and become one of the first female zookeepers in Australia, she thought her biggest challenges would be feeding big cats and subduing irate gorillas. In fact, it was her male colleagues who made work miserable, harassing and humiliating her for doing a 'man's job'. So, she looked to the animals under her care to prove them wrong.
Despite what Erna's colleagues seemed to think, the females of the animal world were far from weak and demure. Elephant matriarchs led their herds; female bonobos revelled in sexual exploration; emu mothers abandoned their chicks to the care of their fathers. Her colleagues wouldn't dare tell a female tiger that hunting was a 'male's job' - why were they so intent on limiting Erna?
In this insightful and delightful book, Erna blends memoir and pop science to tell a fiercely female story. She recounts a life spent caring for animals in a fast transforming industry, and dives into scientific evidence and evolutionary history to debunk the myths that once held her back.
This book was interesting to see how in the animal kingdom, there is a lot of sexual diversity, and the males and females of each species are cared for equally in the group. I was disappointed that Erna found it necessary to bring in a quote from the bible, Corinthians, to show that women were kept down and in their box in that era. What that verse meant was that women weren't allowed to discuss or argue biblical meanings in the church with the men. That was to be done at home. I think that would have been because the men were educated in the church ways whereas the women weren't. It still shows that the women were not given the same rights as men but what it doesn't show is that women weren't allowed to sing and young men were castrated so they could sing with a boy soprano voice.
I was also disappointed that there weren't so many stories of zoo keeping. I was hoping it would be like a James Harriot of zoo keeping book.
Cultural practices have discriminated against women through the ages and continue to do so but it there has been great headway and continues to be. I thank Erma for being one of the women who fought for the right to be treated respectfully in that all male domain.
