Home work : gender, child labor, and education for girls in urban America, 1870-1930 / Ruby Oram..

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Oram, Ruby.

Series:

Historical studies of urban America

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Girls--Education--Illinois--Chicago--History--19th century.

Girls.

Girls--Education--Illinois--Chicago--History--20th century.

Discrimination in education--Illinois--Chicago--History--19th century.

Discrimination in education.

Child labor--Illinois--Chicago--History--19th century.

Child labor.

Child labor--Illinois--Chicago--History--20th century.

Home economics--Study and teaching--Illinois--Chicago--History--19th century.

Home economics.

Educational equalization--United States--History.

Educational equalization.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 255 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2025.

Summary:

"How reforms to girlhood education in the Progressive Era cemented inequalities of gender, race, and class in urban school systems. In Home Work, historian Ruby Oram tells the story of how middle-class, white women reformers lobbied the state to implement various public education reforms to shape the lives of girls and women in industrial cities between 1870 and 1930. Women such as Jane Addams and Florence Kelley used education reform to target working-class communities and advocate for their middle-class ideals of girlhood and femininity, which could vary depending on the racial or socio-economic backgrounds of the girls. For example, reformers generally encouraged white girls to care for their future families, while pushing Black girls toward becoming domestic workers in others' homes. Using Chicago as a case study, Oram also explores how many of the reforms sought by white women were in response to evolving anxieties about immigration, health, and sexual delinquency. An illuminating addition to the history of urban education in America, Home Work enriches our understanding of educational inequality in twentieth-century schools"-- ǂc Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: The girl problem

The "girl problem" or the "servant problem"? : policing girlhood labor in Illinois carceral schools, 1870-1910

Fit for motherhood : regulating girlhood health and labor in Chicago public schools, 1888-1915

The bane of the tenement : educating immigrant daughters for scientific housekeeping, 1890-1910

A school built around the girl : education for paid and unpaid labor in Chicago high schools, 1900-1915

Sex, spending, and "going astray" : vocational guidance counseling for girls of legal working age, 1910-1920s

A nation of good homes : labor, citizenship, and home economics for American girls, 1917-1930.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-245) and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-226-84432-3

9780226844329

OCLC:

1546544985