DOCUMENT RESUME ED 300 663 CE 051 368 AUTHOR Gaskell, Jane, Ed.; McLaren, Arlene, Ed. TITLE Women and Education: A Canadian Perspective. SPONS AGENCY Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Ottawa (Ontario). REPORT NO ISBN-0-920490-71-9 PUB DATE 87 NOTE 395p.; Revised versions of papers presented at the conference "Women and Education" (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, June 1986). AVAILABLE FROMDetselig Enterprises, Ltd., P.O. Box G399, Calgary, Alberta T3A 2G3. PUB TYPE Collected Works - Conference Proceedings (021) -- Books (010) -- Reports - Research/Technical (143) EDRS PRICE MFO1 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS Adult Education; Comparative Education; *Educational History; Educational Policy; *Educational Practices; *Educational Trends; *Females; Feminism; Foreign Countries; Futures (of Society); Job Training; Physical Education; Postsecondary Education; Science Education; Secondary Education; *Sex Discrimination; Vocational Education; *Womens Education; Womens Studies IDENTIFIERS *Canada ABSTRACT This four-part book contains 16 papers that explore the relationship between feminist research and education, especially in Canada. The papers in the first part, "Women as Mothers, Women as Teachers," are as follows: "The Evolution of the Sexual Division of Labour in Teaching" (Danylewycz, Light, Prentice); "More than a Labour of Love" (Task Force on Child Care); and "Constructing Cultural Knowledge" (Griffith, Smith). The following papers appear in the second part of the book, "Unequal Access of Knowledge": "Adolescent Females and Computers" (Collis); "Girls and Science Programs" (Mura, Kimball, Cloutier); "Course Enrollment in the High School" (Gaskell); and "Women and Higher Education in Canadian Society" (Guppy, Balson, Vellutini). The papers of the third part, "The Nature of Curriculum: Whose Knowledge?" include the following: "Two Marys and a Virginia" (Pierson); "National Issues and Curricula Issues" (Sheehan); "An Analysis of Ideological Structures and How Women Are Excluded" (Smith); "Knowledge and Gender in Physical Education" (Dewar); and "Feminism, Women's Studies and the New Academic Freedom" (McCormack). The fourth part, "Beyond Schooling: Adult Education and Training," contains the following papers: "Literacy as Threat/Desire" (Rockhill); "Rethinking Femininity'" (McLaren); "Skill Training in Transition" (Jackson); and "High Hopes and Small Chances" (Tom). An introduction to the book outlines the topics considered an it, and an epilogue suggests future directions. Short biographies of Litt authors are provided, and the papers contain bibliographies. (KC) 11 Canadian Perspective U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS Office o Educational Research and Improvement MATERIAL INMICROFICHE ONLY EDU ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) HAS BEEN GRANTED BY his document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in this docu- ment do not necessarily represent official TO THE EDUO XIONAL RESOURCES OERI position or policy INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." JANE GASKELL tv) ARLENE McLAREN 2r) Women and Education A Canadian Perspective Editors Jane S. Gasket' Arlene Tigar McLaren Detselig Enterprises Limited Calgary, Alberta 3 Jane S. Gaskell The University of British Columbia Arlene Tigar McLaren Simon Fraser University Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Main entry under title: Women and education Consists chiefly of revised papers presented at the "Women and Education" conference held at the University of British Columbia in June, 1986. ISBN 0-920490-71-9 1. Women EducationCanada.2. Women's studies Canada.I. Gaskell, Jane S. (Jane Stobo).II. McLaren, Arlene Tigar. LC1762.W65 1987 376'.971 C87-091241-0 CO 1987 by Detselig Enterprises Limited P.O. Box G 399 Calgary, Alberta T3A 2G3 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in Canada SAN 115-0324 ISBN 0-920490-71-9 Contents Introduction 5 Part One: Women as Mothers, Women as Teachers 21 1 Marta Danylewycz, Beth Light and Alison Prentice. The Evolution of the Sexual Division of Labour in Teaching: A Nineteenth Century Ontario and Quebec Case Study 33 2 Task Force on Child Care. More Than a Labour of Love: Child Care Workers in Canada 61 3 Alison I.Griffith and Dorothy E. Smith Constructing Cultural Knowledge: Mothering as Discourse 87 Part Two: Unequal Access of Knowledge 105 4 Betty Collis. Adolescent Females and Computers: Real and Perceived Barriers 117 5 Roberta Mura, Meredith Kimball and Renee Cloutier. Girls and Science Programs: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back 133 6 Jane S. Gaskell. Course Enrollment in the High School: The Per spective of Working-Class Females 151 7 Neil Guppy, Doug Balson and Susan Vellutini. Women and Higher Education in Canadian Society 171 Part Three: The Nature of Curriculum: Whose Knowledge? 193 8 Ruth Roach Pierson. Two Marys and aVirginia:Historical Moments in the Development of a Feminist Perspective on Education 203 9 Nancy M Sheehan. National Issues and Curricula Issues: Women and Educational Reform, 1900-1930 223 10 Dorothy E. Smith. An Analysis of Ideological Structures and How Women arc Excluded: Considerations for Academic Women 241 11 Alison Dewar. Knowledge and Gender in Physical Education 265 12 Thelma McCormack. Feminism, Women's Studies and the New Academic Freedom 289 Part Four: Beyond Schooling: Adult Education and Training... 305 13 Kathleen RockhillLiteracy as Threat /Desire. Longingto be SOMEBODY .315 14 Arlene Tigar McLaren. Rethinking "Femininity": Women in Adult Education 333 15 Nancy S. Jackson. Skill Training in Transition: Implications for Women 351 16 Allison Read Tom. High Hopes and Small Chances: Explaining Conflict in a Women's Job Training Program 371 Future Directions 389 Acknowledgments The idea of this book originated from a conference that was funded pri- marily by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council through its Women and Work Strategic Grants Program. The conference was also generously supported by the Faculty of Education and the President's Office at the University of British Columbia. We thank them. Several groups gave the conference further support which we appreciate: the University's Women's Club and the Academic Women's Association of the University of British Columt ia, the Women's Studies Program at Simon Fraser University, and the British Ccuncil. We would like to thank a variety of people who helped to put together the conference and/or the book. They include Jo-Ann Hannah, Tirthanker Bose, Kaari Fraser, Ilona St. Anne, the women in the Word Processing Services in the Faculty of Education at U.B.C., Bill Macjieko, and Celia Bayro. We are also grateful for our valuable discussions with Sandra Acker, Miriam David, Dianne Looker, Myra Strober, and Nikki Strong-Boag. The authors in this collection deserve our special thanks for their contri- butions and for their patience. Detselig Enterprises Ltd. appreciates the financial assistance for its 1987 publishing program from Alberta Foundation for the Literary Arts Canada Council Department of Communications Alberta Culture Contributors Doug Balson is a sociology student at U.B.C. He is examining how the role of education changes as the nature of the capitalist economic system evolves. Renee Cloutier, Ph.D. sociology, is a professor in the department of Edu- cational Administration and Policy at the University of Laval in Quebec City. Her research and teaching focuses on the status of women, higher education (the politics of admission and retention), the social analysis of education, and vocational and educational guidance. Betty Collis has a B.A. in mathematics from the University of Michigan, an M.A. in the teaching of mathematics from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in measurement, evaluation, and computer applications from the University of Victoria. She is currently an associate professor in the department of Psycho- logical Foundations at the University of Victoria. She is involved with comput- ers in education at the international, national, and local levels and frequently speaks and writes on equity issues and school computers. Marta Danylewycz was an assistant professor of History at Atkinson College, York University, when her life was tragically cut short in March, 1985. The author of articles on the history of teachers and of religious women, she was revising her docta-al thesis on the latter for publication at the time of her death. In this study, Taking the Veil: An Alternative to Marriage, Mother- hood and Spinsterhood in Quebec, 1840-1920 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1987), the lives of teaching sisters are compared with those of the lay- women who taught, as part of the larger story of two of Quebec's most interest- ing female religious orders, the Sisters of Miselicorde and the Congregation of Notre Dame. Alison Dewar is currently an assistant professor in the department of Physical Education, Health and Sport Studies at Miami University, Ohio. Born in Scotland, she has has lived in Hong Kong, Scotland, Canada and the United States. She did her undergraduate work in physical education and taught physi- cal education at the secondary level for two years before moving to Canada to pursue graduate studies at the University of British Columbia. Her doctoral dissertation and recent work present a feminist critique