The article “Job Market or Marriage Market?” was published by the History of Education Society on May 2007. The article can be found in the History of Education Quarterly’s 47th volume in the second issue. Joan Marie Johnson, author of Job Market or Marriage Market?, got her bachelor’s degree from Duke University and Ph.D. in the University of California Los Angeles. She is currently the Associate Provost’s Program Coordinator in the Northwestern University . Prior to this, she was the instructor of various History courses, including Women in American History, Problems In history: Gender, Race, and Sexuality in American History, in the Northeastern University of Illinois . These courses give insight to what are Johnson’s expertise is. Her specialization
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The article argues that exposure to a rigorous academic curriculum and extracurricular activities allowed women to gain the essential abilities to organize and advocate social reforms such as women’s suffrage. She was also able to demonstrate that these were influenced women through analyzes of letters to and from Southern women in Northern colleges. Through evaluation of the letters Johnson found that Southern women who attended Northern colleges married later in life due to the independence they gained through the exposure to influential professors, extracurricular activities and academic training. Attending college led many Southern women desiring the participation in social form and volunteer work in order to use their academic training and allowed them to feeling of accomplishment without …show more content…
After the argument is made the article proceeds to explaining why women were being educated, and then how education affected aspects of gender performance. There are three subsections: Why college? Why college in the North?, Marriage, and Paid versus Unpaid Work. In the subsection Why college? Why college in the North?, Johnson explains the reason why women from the South wanted education was to obtain self improvement. Those who chose to attend Northern colleges wanted to experience a greater sense of independence. In the Marriage section, she states that marriage rates were lower in educated women and proceeds to explain the factors that could have led to it. One was that educated women from the South preferred Southern gentlemen to the businesslike northerner. Southern men might have been intimidated by the intellectual women. This led to a shortage of suitors. On the other hand, educated women feared that marriage would take way the independence they had gained, therefore, their new found happiness. In Paid versus Unpaid work, Johnson describes how Southern women rejected the notion of joining the work force, although some did become teachers, and instead focused on volunteer work and social reform. This unpaid work allowed women to have a sense of accomplishment. It also explains that the
The article argues that exposure to a rigorous academic curriculum and extracurricular activities allowed women to gain the essential abilities to organize and advocate social reforms such as women’s suffrage. She was also able to demonstrate that these were influenced women through analyzes of letters to and from Southern women in Northern colleges. Through evaluation of the letters Johnson found that Southern women who attended Northern colleges married later in life due to the independence they gained through the exposure to influential professors, extracurricular activities and academic training. Attending college led many Southern women desiring the participation in social form and volunteer work in order to use their academic training and allowed them to feeling of accomplishment without …show more content…
After the argument is made the article proceeds to explaining why women were being educated, and then how education affected aspects of gender performance. There are three subsections: Why college? Why college in the North?, Marriage, and Paid versus Unpaid Work. In the subsection Why college? Why college in the North?, Johnson explains the reason why women from the South wanted education was to obtain self improvement. Those who chose to attend Northern colleges wanted to experience a greater sense of independence. In the Marriage section, she states that marriage rates were lower in educated women and proceeds to explain the factors that could have led to it. One was that educated women from the South preferred Southern gentlemen to the businesslike northerner. Southern men might have been intimidated by the intellectual women. This led to a shortage of suitors. On the other hand, educated women feared that marriage would take way the independence they had gained, therefore, their new found happiness. In Paid versus Unpaid work, Johnson describes how Southern women rejected the notion of joining the work force, although some did become teachers, and instead focused on volunteer work and social reform. This unpaid work allowed women to have a sense of accomplishment. It also explains that the