EDUCATION AND WOMENJordan R. Archibald

“Education imparts skills that create options for individuals in economic, social, and political life” (Sapiro 141).

ICE BREAKER. What does education mean to you?

Do you think education exists both inside and outside of traditional classrooms?

e d u c a t i o n THE IN AND OUT.

What are examples of jobs or career that exist both inside and outside of traditional classrooms?

Do we consider these as actual jobs, or are they things that coexist with our roles in society?

THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION. Relatively few people had any formal education until the 19th century.

Most people learned their trades and professions through apprenticeship or from their parents or other relatives.

Sapiro 141

EARLY EDUCATION continued…

Mothers and fathers passed their skills and knowledge to their daughters and sons.

“Women taught women what they needed to know; men taught men what they needed to know.”

Sapiro 142

C O N C E R N S of formal education.

Formal education was largely restricted to the wealthy and well connected, generally men of the upper class.

It was considered irrelevant for most free citizens.

It was considered dangerous for men of lower status and for women.

It was considered illegal for enslaved Black people.

Sapiro 142

TRIVIA QUESTION. What might be the only textbook people of the 19th century needed to

read?

A. The Bible

B. How to be a Millionaire

C. The Declaration of Independence

D. Introduction to Chemistry

E. None of the above

INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE.Anne Hutchinson

The most famous dispute over women’s education during the colonial period was waged between Anne Hutchinson and the religious authorities of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Sapiro 142).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

He argued that men should be educated in reason and independence to enable them to carry on the major work of society (Sapiro 142).

IMMIGRANTS & education.

By the end of the 19th century, the education of immigrants and their children became a concerns of school administrators, other government officials, and a variety of women’s groups, including those in the new profession of social work.

G O A L: to make immigrant women good American wives and mothers.

what do they n e e d? English competency to run their households properly and to teach their

children. Courses in household arts or home economics to make proper American

homes and learn budgeting to avoid poverty. Americanization to control their children and to ward off juvenile delinquency. They also needed to be taught appropriate trades for women to avoid being

drawn into “white slave trade” (prostitution) before they got married.

Sapiro 147

C O L L E G E and what not.

When the first American colleges opened their doors in the 17th century (Harvard in 1636, William and Mary in 1693), they barred women.

In 1821, Emma Willard opened the Troy Female Seminary, offering a curriculum similar to that of men’s colleges, although her main goal was to makme her students good American mothers or teachers.

Sapiro 144

MOVING FORWARD The period from the 1970s into the 21st century witnessed tremendous

growth and transformation of women’s education due to the actions of advocacy groups, changes in law and eventually, development of cultural values that now created expectations that women would enter the labor market and needed to be prepared.

Sapiro 149

IMPORTANT POLICIES that helped pave the way.

Title XI of the Education Amendments Act 1972: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

1974 Women’s Educational Equity Act (WEEA): provided funds and infrastructure to create new programs to promote women’s education.

relationship between gender&education Research shows, that to earn the same amount of money as men, women

need more education than men. Sapiro 150

d i f f e r e n c e s. The law requires that all children attend school from age five or six to age

sixteen. Roughly the same number of girls and boys participate in early education programs. Boys outnumber girls by a very wide margin, in special-education programs for the

mentally retarded, speech impaired, emotionally disturbed, and learning disabled.

The law does not require students to finish high school. There are gender differences in dropout rates, but these depend on race.

Women now constitute a majority of the recipients of BAs and Mas. Sapiro 151

…boys and girls Some studies show that teachers give more attention to boys than to girls.

This may be partly because boys initiate more interactions with teachers than girls do.

Girls are more likely to wait to be called on, rather than volunteering as boys do, especially in subjects like math.

It is important to emphasize that teachers’ gender-based actions are often not conscious or intentional, and they may be unaware of the gender-based dynamics of their classrooms.

Sapiro 152

lesson of the day. Schools and school curricula are designed in part to teach fundamental

cultural values, including gender norms.

In a gendered world, schools cannot help but teach about gender.

Sapiro 154

two different types of curricula.

the overt curriculum.

The lessons teachers consciously and explicitly try to teach.

the hidden curriculum.

Things that may be taught consciously or unconsciously but are not part of the apparent lesson plan.

If lessons in school include coverage of matters that directly involve and concern men but not women, the hidden curriculum indicates, through its silence, what and who is not important.

Sapiro 154

understanding the understood.

Understanding the role of social institutions such as schools in sex/gender systems requires understanding that the gendered messages children receive are not simple.

* In fact, they are often contradictory.On the one hand, children are told that in a democracy all children

are given an equal chance, and that math, science, and technology are important in the modern world. However, schools blunt these encouraging messages by suggesting (often in subtle ways) that men are more fit for these roles.

What are some subjects that are considered masculine? Feminine? Why?think about it…

the masculine & the feminine.

Children learn at a young age that some subjects are “masculine” and some are “feminine,” that girls and boys are interested in different things and have different abilities.

Sapiro 156

a closer look…children’s narrative writing ideas

b o y s. Sports

space

mythical creatures

adventure

animals

g i r l s.

friends

family

pets

the mall

dance lessons

subtle change. Although the gender integration of many subjects advanced, sometimes

dramatically, over the final quarter of the 20th century and beyond, males and females still make somewhat different choices as they face more options in high school, college, and beyond in their studies. Sapiro 156

Why do you think this is?

the billion dollar question. Do girls and boys and women and men have the fullest possible opportunity

to get the education they choose?

What are your thoughts?

Research suggests that they do not. Subtle and not-subtle messages still track students according to gender. Sapiro 167

Research shows repeatedly that education does not “pay

off” for women in the same way it does for men. Sapiro 168

Why do you think this is the case?

Will things change?

food for thought. Most educators probably believe that education must continue to change;

the dilemma is how to accomplish this.Sapiro 168

Questions &

Ideas