A Journey in Women’s Education Kimberly D. Banish WST 2010:Introduction to Women’s Studies

“YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY”

Education primarily for the wealthy Few had formal education prior to 19th Century Trades and professions learned through family or

apprenticeships

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT

the Bible was often the only book read Reading considered dangerous for lower class citizens I l legal for slaves

EDUCATION AND LITERACY

Debate over women speaking in public What was appropriate for women to say and write

Women could preach but only to each other Women could teach but only the thoughts of their husbands or

minister

EDUCATION AND RELIGION

Enlightenment theories suggested education was the vehicle for a stronger more adept society

Jean- Jacques Rousseau argued men and women could not be educated in the same way

Mary Wollstonecraft argued that a liberal society should include women as well as men

AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Changes in 1830s and 1840s Founding of free public schools for boys and girls Primarily in the Northeastern United States Girls included in primary education Girls mostly excluded from secondary education Until after the Civil War

NEW OPPORTUNITIES ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

First colleges – Harvard ( 1636) and William and Mary (1693) closed to women

1821 Troy Female Seminary 1832 Oberlin College opened its doors to men and women

(whites and blacks)

NEW OPPORTUNITIES POST SECONDARY EDUCATION

Wheaton college open in 1834- first real women’s college Other followed

Mount Holyoke-1937 New England Female Medical College-1848 Philadelphia Women’s Medical College-1951 While only a small percentage of women attended, these

intuitions were influential to women’s lives

WOMEN’S COLLEGES

In the early 19th Century majority of educators were men By the late 1880s (as much as 90% in some locations)

majority were women One-fif th of all New England women served as teachers at

some point(Jones 1980,48)

LEADERSHIP ROLES IN EDUCATION

Theories on proliferation of the women’s role as teacher Cheaper labor Women did not have families to support Deserved less pay as they would quit jobs after marriage Women accepted the lower pay

WOMEN AS EDUCATORS

“Seven Sisters” • Mt. Holyoke (1837) • Vasser (1861) • Wellesley (1870) • Smith (1871) • Radcliffe (1879) • Bryn Mawr (1880) • Barnard (1889)

Bethune - Cookman (1904) • School for black students

SCHOOLS BY WOMEN FOR WOMEN

Until WWII most school boards required married women to resign

Women were once forced to resign upon marriage and pregnancy

1964 Civil Rights Act would make these activities i l legal

WOMEN AS EDUCATORS FAMILY LIFE

Late 1800s saw a rise in clubs and organization to improve education

Suffrage groups increased Women active in the ASSA ( American Social Science

Association) 1870s saw the rise of “moral education” and “moral science”

societies

CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS

Home economics and domestic science How to be a modern housewife Advanced studies in nutrition, psychology, sociology biology

and organic chemistry A woman should stil l be able to leave here career if needed

for family obligations.

“NEW” FIELDS IN WOMEN’S EDUCATION

Edward Clark theorized women who became too educated a woman’s brain would rob her womb - creating a poor pregnancy

The 1950s women would fight for more access to universities and training in male dominated fields

In the 1980s men and women saw equal numbers in bachelors and masters degrees earned.

QUEST FOR POST SECONDARY EDUCATION

1970s and forward saw growth in women's education Advocacy groups, legislative changes, cultural values

Education Amendments Act (1972) Women’s Educational Equity ACT(1974)

IMPROVEMENT THROUGH CHANGE

Minimum education standards may not prepare youth for job market

Research shows – for a woman to earn the same amount as a man, she needs more education than a man.(Sapiro,150)

Current legislation requires school attendance from age five or six to 16

Students are not required by law to complete high school Dropout rates vary based on gender and race

IS IT ENOUGH?

Differences in the class room can appear in dif ferent ways Amount of attention teachers pay Type of attention Degree teaching method reaches boys vs. girls Degree subjects studied challenge boys and girls

Teachers’ gender based behaviors toward students are usually

not conscious or deliberate

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN EDUCATION

Some traditions uphold gender segregation Reformers of the 19th century advocated mix-sexed schools Co-education was the new enlightened methodology Gave opposite sex an opportunity to learn about one another

SEGREGATION

Most schools segregated for vocational purposes Girls – cooking and sewing Boys- metal, wood working and mechanical drawing

Sex education often still segregated

SEGREGATION AND EDUCATION

Still unexplained dif ferences in salaries Minorities earning less than white counterparts Student evaluations are gender based Male evaluations show more bias than females(Sapiro,165) Women more likely than men to pick a women as their “best”

professor ( Sapiro,165)

GENDER AND RACE

The higher the degree the lower in woman’s share The higher the teaching position, the lower in woman’s share Men hold higher percentages of educational governance

WOMEN AS EDUCATORS

More women educators feel more stress over not having more personal time

Women also face more pressure to help balance family and work

Women hold less faculty positions than men

EQUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Gender inequalities (while subtle) stil l exist in the class room. Student evaluations are confidential Students not aware of how they are evaluated

Unconscious sex discrimination in college and university

prevalent in faculty promotion process

THE GREAT GENDER DIVIDE

Education for women was historically about making them better wives or mothers

1990s controversy over “alternative lifestyle” education in the class room and its impact on traditional gender roles

Current research shows a woman’s education do not return the same monetary return as men

Well-educated women do face a glass ceiling (Duncan 1996) Women’s education still considered a special topic

WOMEN’S EDUCATION