"A Fair Chance for the Girls": Discourse on Women's Health and Higher Education in Late Nineteenth Century America

Autor/in	Tsang, Tiffany Lee
Titel	"A Fair Chance for the Girls": Discourse on Women's Health and Higher Education in Late Nineteenth Century America
Quelle	In: American Educational History Journal, 42 (2015) 2, S.137-150 (14 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1535-0584
Schlagwörter	Females; United States History; Higher Education; Public Opinion; Access to Education; Medicine; Gender Bias; Social Justice; Feminism; Physicians; Social Values; Moral Values; Human Body; Language Usage; Scientific Principles; Resistance (Psychology) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Weibliches Geschlecht; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Öffentliche Meinung; Education; Access; Bildung; Zugang; Bildungszugang; Medizin; Geschlechterstereotyp; Soziale Gerechtigkeit; Feminismus; Physician; Doctor; Arzt; Sozialer Wert; Moral value; Ethischer Wert; Menschlicher Körper; Sprachgebrauch; Resistenz
Abstract	Histories of education in America often discuss how concerns over women's health influenced public opinion on women's participation in higher education in the late nineteenth century. However, these histories almost exclusively focus on literature produced by the medical community--literature claiming that rigorous academic study was detrimental to women's health. What is often missing is a comprehensive recounting of how women challenged the medical wisdom of the day by responding publicly to the assertions of the medical experts. These forms of resistance included responses in print media as well as female physicians who came forward publicly to reject the claims made by the male-dominated medical community. I argue that by doing so, feminists, female physicians, and the Association of Collegiate Alumnae (ACA) reasserted women's authority over their own bodies and also rejected male physicians' enforcing of social and moral discipline through their alleged expertise over women's bodies. By further exploring how feminists, female physicians, and the ACA adopted scientific language and principles in order to speak on women's health and higher education, this study contributes to feminist scholarship on women and education by highlighting a significant form of resistance against patriarchal medical authority. This study also illustrates the relevance of the concept of the body in understanding the debate over women's higher education and the implications of authority over women's bodies. Lastly, this study contributes to our understanding of the intersections of gender, medical science, and education reform. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	IAP - Information Age Publishing, Inc. P.O. Box 79049, Charlotte, NC 28271-7047. Tel: 704-752-9125; Fax: 704-752-9113; e-mail: infoage@infoagepub.com; Web site: http://www.infoagepub.com/american-educational-history-journal.html
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01