Professor William Percival Evans didn't believe that chemistry was suitable for women: there was "too much standing, it was too strenuous, and Jean would have been the only girl.
"[3] Struthers instead enrolled in the biology department under the more accepting Professor Charles Chilton, and in 1922 earned an MA with First Class Honours in botany with a dissertation A Critical Study of the New Zealand Species of the Genus Cordyline and Anatomical and Ecological Notes on Cordyline australis.
[3] On 16 June 1931 in Cambridge (England), she married John Struthers, who had taught at Christchurch Boys' High School.
[3][6] On returning to New Zealand in 1963, Struthers taught chemistry through the Correspondence School, teaching some students who went on to become leaders in the field.
One past student, Jilly Evans, who was head of the biochemistry division of Merck Sharp and Dohme, tracked Struthers down to thank her for her inspirational teaching through the Correspondence School.