Catharine Beecher, daughter of Lyman Beecher and reared in New England Calvinism, struggled against it as a means of acquiring life orientation. Convinced of the mind's superiority in resolving moral and ethical matters, she developed pioneering views on women's education with its three linchpins, which became known as moral philosophy: (1)…

The essay discusses the role and education of the women of India, with special reference to the women of Bengal during the nineteenth-century and a comparison is made between the education of the Indian woman and the education of the European woman during this era. The education of the Indian woman is also referenced against the backdrop of the…

An extensive body of research indicates a significant correlation between gender equality and the level of economic and social development of a country. Gender inequities have been found to influence the way members of the family spend their time and resources. Evidence suggests that women with more control over resources will spend more money on…

The interrelated nature of gender and racial constructs in the culture of the southern United States accounts for much of the historical prejudice against coeducation in the region's institutions of higher education. This essay offers a historical perspective on gender discrimination on the campuses of Southern universities from the attempts to…

Midwifery is one of the universal professions. At the end of the nineteenth century, midwives in the United States were disenfranchised from the mainstream. A concerted effort was waged by male physicians to characterize midwifery practices as unscientific while simultaneously preventing midwives from obtaining formal education. Although midwifery…

Jane Barker--poet, novelist, farm manager, student and practitioner of medical arts--was not allowed to attend university because she was a woman. Yet she was Oxford-educated in the most modern of medical theories of her time. By the end of her life, unmarried by choice, Barker was writing for pay under her own name in an emerging genre--the…

The under-representation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields is of continuing concern, as is the lack of women in senior positions and leadership roles. During a time of increasing demand for science and engineering enterprise, the lack of women and minorities in these academic disciplines needs to be addressed by…

In an age of unprecedented scientific achievement, I argue that the neurosciences are poised to transform our perceptions about life on earth, and that collaboration is needed to exploit a vast body of knowledge for humanity's benefit. The scientific method distinguishes science from the humanities and religion. It has evolved into a professional,…

Since before the time of writers such as Plato in his "Republic" and "Timaeus"; Martianus Capella in "The Marriage of Mercury and Philology"; Boethius in "De institutione musica"; Kepler in "The Harmony of the Universe"; and many others, there have been attempts to reconcile the various disciplines in the sciences, arts, humanities, and religion…

Health care occupations are expected to be among the fastest growing professions in the next ten years. With such incredible growth expected in employment and wages, and with women's participation in the industry remaining strong, are women in the health care industry, particularly those in health care administration, experiencing a narrowing of…

The focus of this research is to survey the literature in American higher education on the tenure and promotion of women and to suggest future problems that women may encounter as the American population grays. Anecdotally, women are not tenured and promoted in the same percentages of men in similar fields. In the social and natural sciences,…

Despite the almost equal proportion of females to males who receive doctoral degrees in the U.S., women remain underrepresented in senior positions--faculty and administrative--in institutions of higher education. Unlike the more blatant discrimination extant before the era of civil rights legislation, barriers today are less obvious to the…

Open and unencumbered dialogue is the original position of the modern university-ideal, encompassing both its administrative and educational functions, outstripping even its important reliance upon research in laboratories or solitary writing and contemplative inquiry. This is an idea first intimated in Plato's "Symposium" and later made central…

This paper explores how three nineteenth-century women writers guided my thinking about education, oppression and spirituality during different decades of my twentieth-century life. In order to re-collect my epistemological journey, a process that requires analysis and reflection, the paper combines the critical lens of feminist theory with the…

Although gender discrimination in all of its manifestations is often thought to be absent from higher education, academic institutions are hierarchical organizations that offer rewards, status and privilege, thereby rendering the status of women within these institutions politically and economically vulnerable. With each generation of female…