The academic kitchen : a social history of gender stratification at the University of California, Berkeley / Maresi Nerad.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nerad, Maresi.

Series:

SUNY series, frontiers in education

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

University of California, Berkeley. Department of Home Economics--History.

University of California, Berkeley.

University of California, Berkeley. Department of Home Economics.

Home economics--Study and teaching (Higher)--California--History.

Home economics.

Women college teachers--California--History.

Women college teachers.

Women--Education (Higher)--California--History.

Women.

Feminism and education--California--History.

Feminism and education.

History.

Women--Education (Higher).

Home economics--Study and teaching (Higher).

California.

Physical Description:

xv, 195 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [1999]

Summary:

The academic Kitchen tells the story of the evolution of an all-women's department, the Department of Home Economics, at the University of California, Berkeley from 1905 to 1954. The book's unique focus on the connection between gender and the status of a particular academic department challenges organizational theorists and higher education specialists to reconsider their traditional analysis of academic departments. By incorporating gender in the analysis, Nerad reveals the process by which departments traditionally dominated by women, including education, library science, nursing, social welfare, and home economics, begin as separate (and unequal) programs and are subsequently eliminated (or sustained without economic rewards, prestige, and power) when administrators no longer regard them as useful.

Contents:

From Social Reform Movement to Academic Study: Home Economics 4

The Berkeley Saga 11

Chapter 1. Creating a Department of Home Economics at the University of California 17

The Invisible Berkeley Women Students 18

Benjamin Ide Wheeler of Berkeley: "A Womanly Education to Be More Serviceable Wives and Mothers" 21

"All We Ask Is a Chance": The Second-Class Status of Women Students and the Establishment of Home Economics at Berkeley 33

Jessica Peixotto, Lucy Sprague, Lucy Ward Stebbins: Living Down "Prejudices" 36

A "Women's Department": A Form of Segregation? 46

Chapter 2. University Schooling for "the Housekeeper, Homemaker, and Mother" 51

The Frustrating Struggle for Faculty and Status as a School 53

Developing an Organizational Structure 61

"Women Cannot Take Responsibility as Well as Men ..." 63

A Department after All, but Power Rests with the President 67

Chapter 3. Institution Builder: Agnes Fay Morgan 73

Keeping a "Deep" Secret 76

Household "Science" or Household "Art"? 82

Gender Inequality Enhanced by the War 84

Building an Institution: A Genius for Essentials 87

Chapter 4. In Search of Status 89

Concentrating on What Affects Status: Quality of Faculty, Curriculum, Research, Outside Funding, Graduates' Careers, Committee Service, and Facilities 90

Securing Outside Research Funding 106

The Career Choices and Employment of the Department's Students and the Graduate Group in Nutrition 107

A Name Change and a Fight: What's in a Name? Power 120

Chapter 5. From "The Peak of Eminence" to the End of a Separate Sphere: Berkeley Finds Home Economics an Embarrassment 127

Conclusion: Lessons 139

Appendix A Chronological History of Home Economics at the University of California, Berkeley 143.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 179-186) and index.

ISBN:

0791439690

0791439704

OCLC:

38542605