Women in Higher Education

Women in Higher Education: Past and Present Barriers to Access, Causes, And Solutions

My research will focus on historical and present barriers to women's access to higher education. The thesis of my argument is that economic, social, and psychological barriers have historically existed for women wishing to pursue higher education, and that many of these linger for women today, even if (supposedly) to a lesser extent. I may conclude based on exhaustive research and analysis combined, that discrimination against women in higher education did exist; does in fact continue to exist, and to a greater extent than might be recognized by higher education administrators, faculty; counselors, and others; that such discrimination has been and continues to be detrimental, for women and for society as a whole: economically, socially and otherwise. I may also conclude that such discrimination against women in terms of higher education access, when practiced today, must be eliminated. Discrimination of this sort is illegal. Those colleges, universities, professional and graduate schools, and other institutions of higher learning practicing it today are, and should increasingly be, subject to legal actions that are, in many such cases, now insufficiently and far too sporadically enforced. Therefore, I shall argue, in order to eradicate barriers to access to higher education for women, we must seek change in current attitudes and practices of institutions of higher education. I will provide suggestions and rationales for programs and practices within higher educational institutions, some of which are in effect today in some places, such as women's re-entry programs, counseling geared toward women students, and better access to financial, child care, and other assistance for today's female college, university, graduate school, and professional school students, many of whom are older, more ethnically diverse, and more diverse in terms of background, learning ability, and other abilities than in the past.

I intend to prove my thesis by first exhaustively researching women's access to (or the lack thereof) higher educational opportunities, both past and in the present. By using references, both historical and current, including books; scholarly articles; magazine articles; government documents, and various other sources, I shall trace patterns of higher educational discrimination, or limits to access, for women, and analyze key social, economic, and other factors that have in the past contributed to limiting women's access, and that in many ways continue to do so. In order to overcome these barriers to women's higher education access once and for all, I shall use my sources, combined with my own analysis, to suggest that social attitudes about women, about the importance (and necessity) of women's higher education, and current beliefs about the economic and social importance of higher education for women, by society and even among many women themselves, must change to reflect present-day realities.

I will use my sources to support and help prove the main ideas in my thesis, beginning with historical works (for example, The Higher Education of Women, 1866 (Davis 2003); Pioneers of Women's Education in the United States: Emma Willard, Catherine Beecher, Mary Lyon (1931), and then more current works, which discuss the problem as it exists today, and offer suggestions on how to solve it.