Essay - Women in Higher Education: Past and Present Barriers to Access...

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

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My research will focus on historical and present barriers to women's access ***** higher education. The thesis of my argument is that economic, social, and psychological barriers have historically existed for women wish*****g to pursue higher education, and ***** many ***** these linger for ***** *****day, even if (supposedly) to a lesser extent. I may conclude based on exhaustive research and analysis combined, that discriminati***** against women in ***** education did exist; does in fact cont*****ue ***** exist, and to a greater extent than might be recognized by higher education administra*****rs, faculty; counselors, and others; ***** such discrimination has *****en and continues to be detrimental, for women and ***** society as a whole: economically, *****ly and otherwise. ***** may also ***** that such discrimination against women in terms of higher education *****, 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 ***** far too sporadically enforced. Therefore, I shall argue, in order to eradicate barriers to access ***** higher education for women, we must seek change in current attitudes and practices of ***** of higher education. ***** will provide suggestions ***** rationales for programs and practices within higher *****al institutions, some ***** 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 ********** female college, university, graduate school, and ***** school *****, many of whom are older, more ethnically diverse, and more diverse in terms of background, learning ability, ***** other abilities ***** in the past.

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

I will use my sources to support and help prove the main ideas in ***** thesis, beginning with historical works (for example, The Higher ***** ***** Women, 1866 (Davis 2003); Pioneers of Women's Education in the United States: Emma Willard,