American Womens Role Transformation and Higher Education Experience(1)

1、云南大学硕士学位论文American Womens Role Transformation and HigherEducation Experience姓名：和丽君中请学位级别：硕士专业：英语语言文学指导教师：周宝娣20070501二十世纪七十年代之前，美国女子高等教育的发展举步维艰。反对女子高等 教育的呼声不绝于耳，即使为数不多的女性进入到高等教育领域，她们所学专业 也仅局限在诸如家政、教育等几个专业当中。二十世纪七十年代以后，这一状况 有了巨大的改观，不仅女性参与高等教育的人数超过了男性人数，而且她们逐渐 向法律、医学、工程等传统男性占优势的专业渗透。虽然女子高等教育的发展与 经济、教育政

2、策等因素密切相关，但女性传统角色的转变也对女子高等教育的进 步起到了至关重要的作用。从殖民时期一直到二十世纪六十年代，受传统基督教文化.十九世纪工业革 命及二十世纪上半叶经济危机、世界大战等因素的彩响，女性一直被囿于家庭领 域，扮演传统家庭主妇的角色。在此情形下，女子高等教育的发展一直很缓慢， 而女性接受髙等教育的目的也仅是为了使她们能更好地扮演家庭主妇这一传统角 色。二十世纪六十年代以后，美国经济的发展促使大量的女性走岀家庭涌入劳动 力市场，女性的角色开始发生改变。同时，女权主义者贝蒂弗里登在女性的 困惑一书中抨击了传统家庭主妇角色对女性发展的束缚，唤醒了女性对自身角 色的重新认识，并引发了

3、随后的女权运动，使女性只担当家庭主妇的角色这一传 统观念也受到了极大的冲击。更多的女性走出家庭，走向社会，渴望在事业上获 得成功，使自我价值得到更大的实现。为了适应这种角色的改变，提高自身的素 质与能力，女性对高等教育的需求与日俱增，所选择的专业也有了多样化的发展 并逐步向传统的以男性为主的专业进行渗透。女性从家庭走向广阔的社会舞台，从只做一个贤妻良母到渴望事业成功，这 种传统角色的转变无疑推动了女性髙等教育的快速发展。关键字：女性传统角色转变 高等教育 进步 AbstractCompared with American womens experience in higher educatio

4、n before the 1970s, higher education of women in the decades after the 1970s has been improved dramatically. The number of women enrolled in higher education has increased greatly and their achievements in fields such as law, medicine and dentistry have been remarkable.An important reason bringing a

5、bout womens advancement in higher education is the transformation of womens traditional role as wife and mother. Before the 1960s, womens role in society was wife and mother This traditional role prescription originated in the Christian culture at the beginning of American history, was later strengt

6、hened by industrialization in the second half of 19th century as well as the economic depression and two world wars in the first half of the 20th century. Womens role as wife and mother prevented women from receiving much higher educatiortAfter the 1960s, the changing economic condition, the publica

7、tion of Betty Friedans Feminine Mystique and the new womans liberation movement helped to redefine womens role in home and society and eventually transformed peoples attitude. Liberated from the restraint of the traditional role prescription and expecting to achieve self-realization in the society,

8、womens demands for higher education increased greatly. We can conclude that transformation of womens traditional role plays an important part in womens progress in higher education.本人声明所呈交的论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研 究成果。尽我所知，除了文中特别加以标注和致谢的地方外，论文中不包含其他 人已经发表或撰写过的研究成果，也不包含为获得云南大学或其他教育机构的学 位或证明而使用过的材料。与我

9、一同工作的同志对本研究所做的任何贡献均己在 论文中作了明确的说明并表示了谢意。研究生签名：茲m 日期：力“厶论文使用和授权说明本人完全了解云南大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，即：学校有权保留 并向国家有关部门或机构送交学位论文和论文电子版：允许论文被査阅或借阅; 学校可以公布论文的全部或部分内容.可以采用影印.缩印或其他复制手段保 存论文；授权学校将学位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索。（保密的论文在解密后应遵循此规定）研究生签名：跖而多AcknowledgementsI hereby express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, P

10、rofessor Zhou Baodi. It is her immense erudition that guides me to the field of American study and her meticulousness that encourages me during my postgraduate study and both will be of lasting significance to me. I am extremely grateful for her sustained patience and willingness to instruct me duri

11、ng my thesis writing. Her valuable suggestions on the subject selection, on the modification of thesis structure and even on the choice of words and punctuations have made the completion of this thesis possible.My sincere thanks also go to professor Zhou Zhen, professor Liu Xiaohong for their kind a

12、nd enlightening suggestions on my thesis proposal, and to other faculty members in the Foreign Languages School, Yunnan University and teaching staff in English department, Yunnan Finance and Economics University, who have given me inspiring lectures on various subjects that have helped to widen my

13、vision during my years in the MA and BA degree programs.Last but not least, I would like to say thanks to my parents as well as Xuejun Zhao and other friends, classmates, whose unfailing love, supports and encouragements are also indispensable to the completion of my postgraduate study and this thes

14、is.IntroductionDuring the recent few decades, American women have attained great progress and achievements in higher education. Statistics provided by the National Center for Education Statistics of the United Sutes showed that more women than men were enrolled in colleges since late 1970s; and in 2

15、000 one out of every four American women was a college graduate. Experts predict that, by 2012, women will comprise 57% of college enrollment. In addition to figures about college enrollment of women, information concerning different levels of college degree also indicates the great progress women h

16、ave achieved. Women have earned more associate degrees than men since 1977, and more bachelors degrees than men since 1981. In the 2000-2001 academic year, women earned 58.5% of all masters degrees, and were awarded 44% of all doctoral degrees in 1999-2000.“Womens Education httD：/infbtrggalegrouDcom

17、/itweb/yunnan 2006 April,20 Irene Harwarth,Women*s Colleges in the United States: History, Issues, and Challenges0 http//officcs/OERl/PLLI/web 2006 October, 20.This presents a revolutionary change in American womens higher education compared to situation before the 1970s. Before the 1970s,

18、 women met with many difficulties in pursuing higher learning. Although Harvard University was established as early as 1636, women were not admitted at that time. It was in 1836, 200 years after Harvard College was established, that Oberlin admitted 4 young women, which was the first instance of wom

19、en being permitted to obtain a college education. After thab although women made some progress in higher education, they still encountered many obstacles. Scholars opposed womens involvement in higher education for various reasons. In 1873, Harvard Medical School professor Edward H.Clarke asserted t

20、hat too much education would put such a strain on womens physical strength that it would endanger their childbearing functions- Harvard College president Charles W. Eliot resisted admission of women in colleges on the ground that women were naturally less intelligent than men so that their admission

21、 would lower academic standards. Consequently, some famous higher education institutions such as Ivy League thatincluded eight long-established colleges and universities with prestigious academic and social reputations had persistently resisted admission of women. Even during the first half of the 2

22、0th century, women were still barred from the doors of numerous colleges and universities.It is clear that womens higher education before and after the 1970s pose a sharp contrast and a great leap has been made by women since the 1970s. A lot have been done by scholars to examine the causes behind t

23、his significant change. In Women t Rights in the USA: Policy Debates and Gender, Dorothy McBride-Stetson made an overall study of the educational policies such as Title IX of the Higher Education Act of 1972, Women 1s Education Equity Act of 1974 as well as other gender equity policies in education

24、and concluded that the passage and enforcement of these policies opened up a new prospect for womens higher education and led to womens astounding gains after the 1970s? Professor Robert L Havighurst from Chicago University claimed that the legal abolition of discriminatory practices against women a

25、nd the changes of public policies contributed a lot to the achievements women have gained in higher education? Educator John Jarolimek approached this issue from the perspective of scientific development and explained that, as education is the prerequisite to survival in the postindustrial society c

26、haracterized by sophisticated technology and mechanization, more and more young people including women exert to attain higher level of education in order to gain employment opportunity/All these legal, economic and scientific advances have accelerated the development of womens higher education. Howe

27、ver, these discussions have neglected one other important factor affecting womens higher education: the traditional prescription of American womens role as wife and mother. Historically, women were strictly confined at home as wife and mother who were always expected to manage the household, help th

28、eir husbands and take care of children. This traditional prescription rooted firmly in American society and exerted profound influences on various aspects of Dorothy McBride*Stetson, Women s Rights in the USA: Policy Debates and Gender Roles. (New York: Roulledge Taylor & Francis Gtoup，2004)J52. Rob

29、ert J, Havighuist, Society and Education. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc, 1984), 530. John, Jarolimek, The Schools in Contemporary Society. (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co. nc, 198) ),120. womens life- American historian Gerda Lemer used the term “housewife” as a generalization about American wome

30、ns status in society. Lerner further pointed out: The housewife job is gender-linked by definition and history, a housewife is a woman and every woman is a housewife and it is therefore crucial to any analysis of the position of women in society/*Gerda Lerner, The Majority Finds Its Past: Placing Wo

31、men in History (CaroIina:The University of North Carolina Press J 979), 103. Womenfs education also interrelates with this gender role. On one hand, education enforces gender distinctions by instructing women how they should behave at home and in society. Conversely, gender role influences womens ed

32、ucation by determining the content and extent of their education. The interrelation between gender role and education is clearly explained in the words of Sociologist Jonathan H. Turner:To understand the sociological basis of gender, we must explore how basic elements of the human systemculture, int

33、eraction, social organization, socialization and social control operate to make and enforce gender distinction. Conversely; we should be aware that gender distinction feed back upon and shape the other elements of the human system.Jonathan H.Tumer, Sociology: Study the Human (California: Goodyear Pu

34、blishing Company, lnc981 )295.Education, as an important ingredient of social system and the socialization process, is also influenced by gender role. This paper looks into womens traditional role as wife and mother and finds out that this role prescription has great influence on their higher educat

35、ion experience.This thesis examines the origin, development and transformation of American womens traditional role as wife and mother and analyzes how this role prescription influences womens higher education in different periods of time in order to disclose that the change of this traditional role

36、plays a vital part in womens higher education advances. It consists of four chapters. The first chapter compares womens higher education before and after the 1970s. The second chapter goes into American history and culture to show womens homemaker role was consolidated by series of cultural and hist

37、orical events and circumscribed their higher education from mid-nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century. The third chapter presents womens new role and corresponding change of peoples attitude in the new economic, social and cultural climate of the 1960s and 1970s. An analysis of the impact of t

38、his role transformation on womens higher education is also made in this chapter. The last chapter is the conclusion, which points out that transformation of womens traditional role helps women make a big stride in higher education after the 1970s.13Chapter I A Comparison of AmericanWomens Higher Edu

39、cation Experience before and after the 1970sIn American history, women were allowed limited educational opportunities. Many Americans believed that women didnt need too much learning as they were better suited for childbearing and homemaking rather than for involvement in public life of business or

40、politics, so girls were rarely sent to schools. Even girls who showed marvelous talent were refused to get too much learning that was considered as unnecessary for their role at home. In 1783, Lucinda Foote, at the age of twelve, having studied with her brothers at home when they prepared for Yale,

41、was examined by the president of this institution, she received a Latin certificate stating that she was qualifiedA for admission to Yale in every respect but was not admitted because of her gender.Thus it was gender rather than womens intelligence that determined their chances to get education. And

42、 gender was an unconquerable hurdle for them to gain intellectual learning. Even in the early 19th century, the secondary education for girls was very much limited. According to historian Thomas Woody; there were only six private schools for girls in the whole America in the thirty-year period from

43、1790 to 1820? Most of these schools offered only such courses as painting, musical performance, the best drawing room manners, and a little French. Their education was not to cultivate womens intellectuality and sharpen their minds, or to prepare them to assume public leadership positions, but rathe

44、r to better fulfill their natural role in life as demure, witty, welbgroomed partners for their elite husbands.But women were more than ornaments of their husbands, womens two other important functions were raising children and managing household. These two functions became particularly important un

45、der the impact of industrialization. As women were expected to pass moral values to their children and to make the home a harmonious retreat from the outside world, education aiming at enhancing womens virtues andabilities was advocated. However, it was still limited to serve womens household and8 M

46、abel. New Comer, 4 Century of Higher Education far American Womens New York: Harper & Bothers Publisher, 1959),89 Ibid, 9.childcare functions Even education refbmier Catharine Beecher (1800-1878) who supported higher education for women suggested that teaching, health education and instruction on sc

47、ientific domestic economy* should be an essential part of womens formal education. Elizabeth Seymour Echbacht The Higher Education of Women in England and America 18651920. (New York; Garland Publishing INC, 1993). 37. n Nancy. Woloch. Women and the American Experience. (Boston: Me Graw Hili, 1984),

48、 126. Another contemporary American educator Emma Willard also proposed that womens higher education should be 桃appropriate to their character and duties” and would make women graduates better homemakers”Influenced by these ideas, even colleges and universities which did admit women in the mid-19th

49、century designed the curriculum for women fit for their role as wife and mother. Different from male students in the early*established colleges who were trained to be future clergies, ministries, lawyers, doctors or engineers, women were taught courses such as teaching and domestic science which wou

50、ld serve their role. Oberlin Collegiate fastitute in Ohio, which was the first college to open its door to women in 1836, exemplified this practice by establishing the Ladies Department, known as the female appendage”. Its curriculum was designed to train women to be good wives and mothers, so such

51、courses as Greek, Latin and calculus which were required courses for male students were excluded because the goal of these courses was to help men to develop public careers and professions. Instead, courses such as French, drawing and essay writing were offered to women as they were consistent with

52、traditional value of womanhood. In addition, women students were asked to cook, sew and wash for male students in order to practice these domestic skills. Evidently, such education was to prepare women for their futxire role as housewife Oberlins president James Fairchild stated this goal clearly: “

53、coeducation provided a pool of young women who could become pious, refined, well-trained wives for the graduates/ Eschbach, 44 Its easy to see that at the very beginning womens higher education was to improve womens performance as housekeeper and mother and discouraged their development in the publi

54、c world.Even such kind of education, however, met with strong oppositions from various groups. Professionals saw womens pursuing higher learning as a challenge or threat to womens domestic role, so they developed scientific theories to prevent women from receiving higher education. In 1873, Dr. Edwa

55、rd Clarke (1820-1877), an eminent professor of Harvard Medical School, published a treatise entitled Sex in Education in which he asserted that womens education must be limited and carefully paced according to the rhythm of their physical cycle. He concluded: An excess of mental exertion, especially

56、 during the critical week of every months would comprise their reproductive capacity and would thus deprive society of the biological function of intelligent, upper-class women/,J Ibid ,84. Though rebutted by advocates of womens education, Dr. Clarkes thesis received serious consideration from schol

57、ars and educators in colleges. His book was widely read, going through seventeen printings. As a result prejudices against womens education were strengthened. The institutions that accepted women began to take some measures to block women. In 1909, Wesleyan refused to admit women. Other colleges off

58、ered women limited choices. Large state institutions relegated women students to normal schools or home economics programs and private colleges formed special womens branches to segregate their women students.Woloch, 180.Oppositions from scholars and the measures taken by higher education institutio

59、ns undoubtedly hampered womens development in higher education- The percentage of women enrolled in colleges remained low till first half of the 20th century. According to professor Mabel Newcomer from Vassar college, the proportion of women of college age that were enrolled in colleges was 0.7% in the 1870s and 3.8% in the 1910s.New Comer, 46Be