This article would discuss some of the challenges that faced by women in education since 19th century. The first challenge specifically focused on the domestic role that women were supposed to play from the traditional point of view, which disturbed girls’ education from the early stage. While the following writing moved on to challenges occurring in higher education, talking about the horrible stereotype of university women during early 20th century and the unfair rejection in admission of female. After discussing those relatively specific challenges, gender discrimination was proposed as the initial and most essential challenge for women in seeking to receive education, and both past and recent evidences from literatures were used to support
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It is true that 19th century is seen as a turning point for girl’s education in England, as within the 19th century, female illiterate rate dropped dramatically from around 58% to less than 10% (LI, 2014). This rise however, did not mean an unimpeded education path for female. Most of female’s educational experience was interrupted by the traditionally ideal role that women were considered to play in societies. For example, as Spencer (2004) wrote in the reflections on the ‘site of struggle’: girls’ experience of secondary education in the late 1950s,“For girls, this habit of early leaving was compounded by expectation that their role in workforce would be only temporary before marriage and family responsibilities took over.” In the article, Spencer used the oral history from female school leavers of secondary schools during the late 1950s, whose recall showed us the construction …show more content…
However when it came to higher education, women still faced the struggle of admission into certain courses and also the intolerable stereotype of university women. Watts (2013) wrote that, “at Birmingham University, for example, few women entered the science and mathematics faculty, and almost none engineering. Despite some examples to the contrary, such a pattern was seen throughout the sciences and mathematics as gender struggles entwined with academic and professional debates which ultimately concerned recognition, opportunity, status and privilege”. The general pattern that Watts mentioned was not restricted to Birmingham University but many others. And there are two causes discovered from reviewing several literatures that may explain the pattern in some extent. Firstly, there had been a serious limitation in the admission of women in certain subjects. Dyhouse (1998) described specifically how women were rejected and limited back and forth to the admission of Medicine College. For example, as Dyhouse (1998) wrote “ the names of women students disappear from the register after 1919” and “in March 1910, a decision was made to limit the numbers of women students to ten per cent of the entrants annually and to reconsider the whole issue of their admission after 1923”. Also Dyhouse (1988) emphasized the fact that this action was not only
It is true that 19th century is seen as a turning point for girl’s education in England, as within the 19th century, female illiterate rate dropped dramatically from around 58% to less than 10% (LI, 2014). This rise however, did not mean an unimpeded education path for female. Most of female’s educational experience was interrupted by the traditionally ideal role that women were considered to play in societies. For example, as Spencer (2004) wrote in the reflections on the ‘site of struggle’: girls’ experience of secondary education in the late 1950s,“For girls, this habit of early leaving was compounded by expectation that their role in workforce would be only temporary before marriage and family responsibilities took over.” In the article, Spencer used the oral history from female school leavers of secondary schools during the late 1950s, whose recall showed us the construction …show more content…
However when it came to higher education, women still faced the struggle of admission into certain courses and also the intolerable stereotype of university women. Watts (2013) wrote that, “at Birmingham University, for example, few women entered the science and mathematics faculty, and almost none engineering. Despite some examples to the contrary, such a pattern was seen throughout the sciences and mathematics as gender struggles entwined with academic and professional debates which ultimately concerned recognition, opportunity, status and privilege”. The general pattern that Watts mentioned was not restricted to Birmingham University but many others. And there are two causes discovered from reviewing several literatures that may explain the pattern in some extent. Firstly, there had been a serious limitation in the admission of women in certain subjects. Dyhouse (1998) described specifically how women were rejected and limited back and forth to the admission of Medicine College. For example, as Dyhouse (1998) wrote “ the names of women students disappear from the register after 1919” and “in March 1910, a decision was made to limit the numbers of women students to ten per cent of the entrants annually and to reconsider the whole issue of their admission after 1923”. Also Dyhouse (1988) emphasized the fact that this action was not only