Guided by a set of assumptions drawn from the fields of anthropology, history, sociology of medicine, and human development, this study provides a historical description and analysis of chlorosis, a disease linked solely to female adolescence in the period from 1870 to 1920. (MP)

The history of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae (ACA) is examined. ACA is the parent organization of the American Association of University Women and the National Association of Women Deans and Counselors. ACA played a crucial bridging role in the history of higher education for women by simultaneously supporting conventional and radical…

Women in colonial New Zealand did not have the variety of recreational options available in the "motherland" (Great Britain). Nevertheless, there was a social climate of acceptance if not for the female athlete then certainly for the woman eager to enjoy the fun and freedom of recreational activities. In New Zealand, the social class…

The Victorian concept that women would sacrifice their femininity by participating in vigorous sports has to some extent been ameliorated, but vestiges of the bias remain today. This attitude was not based on hostility toward women but on overprotectiveness and concern for imagined dangers for the health of women, whose prime function in society…

Examines ideological and economic preconditions that brought about the feminization of teaching in the nineteenth century. Emphasizes urban/rural differences and the links between education and other sectors of the labor market and economy. (GC)

Discussion of problems in library reference services focuses on the influence of gender roles. A historical overview of gender roles in the development of American librarianship is presented that highlights stereotyped views of and attitudes toward women, which the author suggests still have influences on librarianship today. (17 references) (LRW)

A historical review of outdoor education in the United Kingdom discusses early objectives of preparing young men for war, improving physical health and moral character, and preventing juvenile delinquency; girls' outdoor courses of the 1950s that emphasized hygiene, homemaking, and child care skills; and outdoor education's reflection of sex-role…

Examines early years of vocational guidance (1910-1930), noting that movement was not successful in advancing societal reform in area of women's occupational choice. Discusses social and occupational structure of the time, societal attitudes, and vocational guidance approaches used as conditions which contributed to early vocational counselors'…

Born in Cicero, New York, in 1826, Matilda Joslyn Gage became one of the leaders of the American women's rights movement. Her book "Woman, Church, and State," first published in 1893, is a work of feminist history and theory that anticipates many of the feminist critiques which are now familiar: social class, imperialism, sexual…

This history of Lancaster, a nineteenth-century reform school for poor girls, illustrates the change in reform ideology from belief in the efficacy of family-style environment to concern for protecting the social order from "hereditarily deviant" children. The role of institutions as mechanisms for social control of the poor and of women…

A survey of textbooks used in French elementary schools during the Third Republic illustrates that period's attitudes toward female roles, social class, and religious differences. A sample of 126 public school books and 43 Catholic textbooks reveals that young students were presented the ideal of a woman content to remain inside an orderly…

Using primary source documents, this teaching unit focuses on changing women's roles, growing awareness of gender inequities, and activist responses to these conditions in the United States between 1820 and 1860. Teacher background materials include a unit overview, correlation to National Standards for United States History, unit objectives, a…

This book examines the many popular representations of student life at women's colleges produced in the United States during the Progressive Era. According to the book, in hundreds of college novels, newspaper accounts, popular periodical essays, and scientific treatises, the "college woman" was described and defined in a period when…

Women faculty at Wellesley College in the Progressive Era were not only the best female academics of their generation, they also created a rich social life and sense of community among themselves. At the same time they maintained a commitment to social activism. Their accomplishments and limitations are discussed. (IS)

Analysis of the Wisconsin woman suffrage campaign of 1910-1920 suggests that public relations belonged not only to political or business practices, but was equally a process by which the masses achieved their own best interests in nineteenth and early twentieth century social reform movements. Woman suffragists were led by women, and the public…