Women and Education

If a primary objective of feminism is to expose and challenge the social relations of power embedded in all spheres of life, then an exploration of the issues attached to female education is a vital aspect of such a project. Indeed, ‘women and education’ is now an established—and flourishing—domain of study. Edited by two leading scholars in the field, Women and Education is a four-volume collection of foundational and cutting-edge contributions further distinguished by the inclusion of autobiographical works to capture the experience of education as a broad societal process, and not simply as formal schooling.

If a primary objective of feminism is to expose and challenge the social relations of power embedded in all spheres of life, then an exploration of the issues attached to female education is a vital aspect of such a project. Indeed, ‘women and education’ is now an established—and flourishing—domain of study. And as academic thinking continues to develop, this new title in Routledge’s acclaimed series, Major Themes in Education, meets the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of the subject’s vast literature and the continuing explosion in research output.

Edited by two leading scholars in the field, Women and Education is a four-volume collection of foundational and cutting-edge contributions. Issues affecting women and education cannot be analysed in territorial isolation; while it is possible in many parts of the Western world to cite evidence of widening opportunities, choices, and potential in women’s lives, the gendered nature of educational provision, practice, and thought is often more starkly apparent in less developed parts of the world. Consequently, the collection adopts an explicitly international approach to explore fully the complexities of the educational experience, its gendered history, and its particular implications and interpretations in specific societies and locations. The collection’s temporal scope is similarly ambitious. Moreover, Women and Education is further distinguished by the inclusion of autobiographical works to capture the experience of education as a broad societal process, and not simply as formal schooling.

Volume one Space, Place, and Time is a theoretical and historical framework for the collection. Taken together, the materials gathered here constitute a sophisticated and versatile toolbox of ideas for theory-building and research. This volume, in particular, will be an invaluable tool for researchers and students of feminist theory and research methods, and for users across the social sciences concerned with issues of gender. Volume two Pupils, Students, and Learning brings together key studies in gender and education. In particular, this volume explores past experiences through autobiography and life history, and investigates gender dynamics within schools. Volume three Teachers and Teaching, meanwhile, focuses on the culture and politics of work. It presents essential findings into processes and pedagogy and gathers critical research on women teachers’ expectations, their struggles to achieve equality, and attempts to change practice. The last volume in the collection Politics and Policies contains a selection of materials that discuss the history and gendered nature of education policies. Presenting a range of views, the work gathered in Volume IV illuminates women’s place in the development of educational traditions, reforms, and theories, and examines their role as educational policy-makers.

With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Women and Education is an indispensable work of reference. It will be welcomed as a crucial database permitting rapid access to less familiar—and sometimes overlooked—texts. It will also be valued as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource for researchers and students of education, women’s studies, and social history, as well as for practising teachers and policy-makers.