Toward a Cooperative Paradigm for the History of Women’s Education in the United States: An Overview

Abstract

Historical research on women’s education in the United States has shifted from focusing on policy initiatives to internal dynamics of schools and classrooms. The additive nature of the new writings of women’s education causes concern that it has been increasingly challenging to write women’s education in a way unfettered by the established, sometimes ideologically dominated, paradigm of historical research. In response to this claim, I examined and evaluated historical writings on women’s education in three historical periods in the United States: the antebellum era from the 1780s to the 1860s, the progressive era from 1860s to 1920s and the era of World Wars and Cold War from the 1920s to 1980s. I argue that most of the “additive” works in the h istory of women’s education are based on an integrative understanding and examination of socio-economic forces that shaped the landscape of education for all. The agency of women in higher education, as reflected in these historical studies, has gradually transformed the history of women’s education. An innovative research paradigm that synthesizes the divided, sometimes contradictory, historical scholarship is needed to better reveal the history of wo men’s education.