For decades, Anne Innis Dagg was the world鈥檚 leading expert on giraffes and a staunch advocate for gender equality in the face of sexist attitudes that derailed her academic career.
But even as she compiled 鈥渂inders and binders鈥� of her research and advocacy work, the Waterloo, Ont., zoologist and feminist was never motivated by accolades, her daughter said.
"She was slogging away doing all of these things for no other reason than she thought it was the right thing to do,鈥� Mary Dagg said in an interview Tuesday, three weeks after her mother鈥檚 death. 聽
Innis Dagg died on April 1 at the age of 91, a few years after an award-winning documentary about her career and life 鈥� 鈥淭he Woman Who Loves Giraffes鈥� 鈥� put her accomplishments in the spotlight.聽
The 2018 film, directed by Alison Reid, revisited Innis Dagg鈥檚 solo journey in 1956 to study giraffes in the wild in 小蓝视频 Africa. It was a pioneering trip by a western scientist who was just 23 years old and had no institutional backing.
"Mom was there before Jane," Dagg said, referring to Jane Goodall, the British primatologist who famously studied chimpanzees in Africa, primarily Tanzania.
The documentary also highlighted Innis Dagg鈥檚 struggles with sexism in academia and the obstacles she faced despite her groundbreaking research and published work that includes the seminal book 鈥淕iraffe: Biology, Behaviour and Conservation.鈥澛�
She earned a PhD in animal behaviour from the University of Waterloo and worked as an assistant professor at the University of Guelph鈥檚 zoology department but was denied tenure in the 1970s. That was a devastating blow to her career but it inspired her lifelong fight for women鈥檚 rights, her daughter said.
Innis Dagg, who was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2019, wrote several books on feminism, including 鈥淢isEducation: Women and Canadian Universities.鈥� She fought against systemic discrimination and wrote letters to various institutions advocating for women鈥檚 rights and freedom of choice, Dagg said. 聽
She recalled her mother visiting the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto in the 1980s and noticing that a lot of exhibits focused solely on men and their environments. She wrote a letter to the ROM expressing her dismay and the curator wrote back saying changes would be made.聽
鈥淚f something was wrong, she was going to do whatever it took to make it right,鈥� Dagg said.
After other "giraffologists" sought out Innis Dagg in the 2010s, she began attending events and gaining long-overdue recognition for her animal expertise. 聽
鈥淭he Woman Who Loves Giraffes鈥� generated widespread interest in Innis Dagg鈥檚 work and gave the scientist an opportunity to soak up the applause at the end of film screenings she attended, her daughter said.聽
鈥淧eople would always stand up. It would always be a standing ovation, and mom would come to the stage and, you know, she'd be gleaming,鈥� she remembered.
At some question-and-answer sessions people would ask Innis Dagg, who was a daughter of academics, if she was glad that she didn鈥檛 get tenure because that put her on a different path in life.
鈥淎nd she said, 鈥榃ell, I would have preferred to be a professor 鈥� my dad was a professor, my husband was a professor. Why can't I be a professor?鈥欌�� Dagg said. 鈥淎nd I think at the end of the day, that's really what she wanted.鈥�
After the film's release, the University of Guelph formally apologized to Innis Dagg for the discrimination she experienced and established a research scholarship in her honour.
The interest sparked by the documentary also inspired the creation of the Anne Innis Dagg Foundation, where Mary Dagg serves as CEO. 聽
The foundation's mission is to preserve the habitats of giraffes and wildlife through education and conservation 鈥� efforts that will continue with a sharpened focus on climate change, Dagg said.
"The plan is, really, to keep going," she said. "My mom's vision was huge, and there's still lots of work to be done."
Innis Dagg is also survived by her sons Hugh and Ian, her brother, and other family members.聽
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2024.
Sonja Puzic, The Canadian Press
