As a girl who grew up in a male-dominated society, Hope Jahren always felt the barrier between what she could accomplish in the lab and what society expected her to do. At five years old, she saw that her older brother’s could “do all of [the] laboratory play in the outside world”, while Jahren had to “pretend to be a girl” and could only reveal her true love of the lab when she went with her father to his laboratory (16-17). Even though she loved lab work like her father, Jahren felt she was an extension of her mother. Her mother had been "the poorest and smartest girl" in her county but determined to pursue an education and break societal norms, her mother worked many jobs to afford a college education (15). However, because college was designed for men, Jahren’s mother had to drop out of college and decided to start a family. Even after giving birth to Jahren, her mother started up schooling again, defying societal stereotypes stating that a woman’s role is in the home. While including Jahren in her study’s, Jahren’s mother taught her how to read difficult books and made her realize that intelligence is an asset. In Kindergarten, Jahren was punished for reading ahead, but powered through the stereotypes dictating that she should not hope to continue to pursue education. Watching her mother’s perseverance and determination to pursue an education, Jahren became the “do-over to make real the life [her mother] deserved and should have had” (17). Her mother’s example not only taught Jahren perseverance but also to never stray away from her dreams. Thus, because Jahren’s struggle to pursue science, a mostly male-dominated field at the time, was inspired by her mother’s struggle to receive an education, Jahren dedicated her book, Lab Girl, to her mother.
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