Comments
All of the following comments are from the women who participanted in my research. The comments at the end of this page of from kind supporters and friends of my research.
This is a great outlet for sharing as well as reflecting on the doctoral journey…it's brilliant! What’s more, if you add this to your oral defense it has implications for further conversations on reflexivity and researcher identity…I see many possibilities.
The comment (about Study Sisters) still brings tears to my eyes. Study Sisters still get together a couple of times a year or for special occasions (like my 70 birthday) to catch up and give support. We are no longer all in Vancouver and are not necessarily involved in work at a university but we have retained ties.
Thanks for sharing these words and pictures. Your study is so important. Think of how much support we could have given each other if there had been a way to connect!
It's great, Mary, thank you for sharing this with us. It's so interesting and dense and fun. Good work, I hope you are proud!
It was quite inspiring to hear the stories behind all these incredible women. It’s true, we have been treading water for many years, and often times against a current. Incredibly enough, individuals who have played a crucial part in our lives, like fathers and siblings were the current. Maybe that is why we succeed so well today, we are determined individuals.
I am finished, my defence was in February. Amazingly the university was open—so many snowstorms in February. The university was closed the day prior to my defense, then closed again for another two days following my defense—second storm lasted a couple of days. I thought it was fitting!
Absolutely amazing!
What a fabulous way to share your findings and perhaps inspire others. Congrats!
Thank-you for sharing this amazing piece of work. It is wonderful. I am delighted to have been a small part of it. I find this such a fascinating topic and I think you must have had such an enjoyable experience doing this, although I know the difficulties as well. :) It was interesting to hear the narrations, especially hearing your own thoughts narrated. I would love to read
your dissertation when it is completed.
It was so great to be able to listen to people's statements for your work. Thank you for sharing in this way. This sharing is very validating personally to hear other women's stories. And... a big Congratulations to you for your work to date. I have a close friend defending September 18th and she is ecstatic to finally be this far along... as you must be too. Thank you for sharing...
We are going to ethics with a study examining the doctoral journey in my faculty. Inspired by you!
Mary this is just excellent - I even had a little cry which is very rare for me - it's inspiring, truthful, and challenging all at the same time.
Thanks for this. The site looks amazing. I hope to defend early in the new year. I appreciate the work that you did to highlight us "older" gals and our unique challenges and strengths.
Thanks for being a part of my journey, too. You may not have realized it, but we leaned on you, when we needed it the most. I know your defense will go well.
Wow! Congratulations, you did it... created a wonderfully compelling site for your work. It looks great. I love how you put your voice to the words of each woman. I will share it with other women I know. With joy in your success.
Thank you so much for sharing your work. I am stuck for words! It is important, brilliant, beautiful and life-affirming. The empathic power is almost overwhelming. I shall share it with others, with gratitude.
This is a really neat way you've found of sharing what we all told you, and what parts of our stories you found especially useful. I'll definitely share this site with others. I know a lot of people who would find it very interesting. Would it be all right to share it on Facebook? I'm part of a group of academics, and I know they'd find it very insightful.
And a bit of a postscript for you: I've turned my dissertation into a book, which was just released last week. It's all part of the dream!
I think this is a very interesting study, especially given the many expectations surrounding women's work, women's education, women's priorities at different times in their lives. We who came late to this game raise eyebrows, but I'm thinking we've also raised the bar.
All the best with your defense! Please keep in touch.
I very much appreciate this work. What a unique way of dissemination. I shared with my professors who also entered academia in later life. The professor who told me about the lantern/light story was so pleased that I had remembered her telling me that. Warm hearts all around.
The site looks great – the visual layout is really attractive. And I hope it will be a supportive and inspirational site for future PhDs.
Your research site made the sun shine on my day. I felt like a new person to know that there are other women who think like me. I especially liked the photo of "The Road Less Travelled" by Carla Dyck and the picture showing that insurance was marriage. Now that women are educated they do not have to depend on marriage, but we have to crawl out of the clutch of a patriarchal society. Thanks for including a picture for my comment. I always purposely try to mention my family in writings and comments because many academics in the past (usually males) seemed to omit them. Not much is done by oneself! What a great work Mary! It was truly a treat to read and bless your technical skills.
Marvellous, Mary!!
Such evocative and provocative research, full of the kinds of stories and reflections and commitments that can lead and support us in revising our perspectives on growing older as an adventure full of possibilities.
The site is wonderfully inviting and engaging.
August 2015 - from Carl Leggo - University of British Columbia, Canada
I was delighted to hear that you have submitted your thesis. Well done!
I have just sat here and gone through your site. I think it's truly wonderful. The way you've re-presented the stories is very engaging and accessible and I found myself resonating with many of them. I was moved by them and thought the use of images was very effective. I'd love to read your thesis once it has been examined. Perhaps you might be able to send me an online copy. I am now 75 and still doing some dissertation advising in a freelance capacity and still supervising counsellors and seeing a few clients. Trying to limit my work to two days a week.
Very best wishes and many thanks. I have already forwarded the information to five women!
August 2015 - from Kim Etherington author of Becoming a Reflective Practioner (2004)
Thanks so much for sharing your website with me; it's very inspiring, wonderful work. I love the pictures and the stories behind them.
August 2015 - Gesa Kirsch author of Women Writing the Academy: Audience. Authority and Transformation (1993)
Dear Mary: Thank you so much for putting this out. I am only sorry I didn't find it earlier. As a 61 year old trying to finish my M.Ed after 8 years it is very powerful. If it is okay with you, I would like to use your website as part of my capstone portfolio assignment for my Masters’ Degree. It has been such a gift to me... that I, a 61-year-old woman has a story not unlike those whom you represented so well. (April 2016)
Fascinating and important work.
Mary thank you for this - I found it via Pat Thomson on Twitter. I graduated last week (age 54) with a Sociology PhD and this is me! Great to see this topic being formally studied as I think it's important to shed light on the valuable resource older women can (potentially) and do contribute to academia, but often don't. (July 2016)
I just wanted to let you know that your presentation was the most impactful one of the day for me (and for others as well, I'm sure). I have recently been caught up in thinking about women's positions as mothers and professionals within academia and all the injustices that go along with that, so your work illuminated yet another part of being a woman in academia that I had not yet considered. No matter what age, deciding to enter into this lifestyle as a women is not an easy choice and we are forced to swallow a lot of judgment. Still, the perseverance and love of learning across the lifespan is a strong message that comes through these stories. Thank you for sharing these experiences with us and I wish you all the best in your future work. PS. Making this site was a great idea! (Participant at AIRG - Artful Inquiry Research Group Symposium at McGill University - October 2016)
I reread your site and loved it all over again - you are such an inspiration.
Olive Bryanton - an 81 year old proud PhD graduate from the University of Prince Edward Island - 2021