An expert on the education of women in Britain is to argue that there is a need to study the ‘private’ domain (family and community) when looking at the history of how women in Britain have been educated since they are largely absent from male historical accounts and from standard sources of evidence.
Dr Susan Williams of the Department of History and Philosophy, Institute of Education, London University, is giving a seminar on Monday 12 April in the Reading and Writing Room, Central Refectory, University of Aberdeen between 6-8pm as part of the University History Department’s Centenary celebrations.
Speaking on “A Question of History: Women and Education”, Dr Williams will outline the challenges faced by historians trying to give an account of women’s education in Britain. With rare exceptions, the history of education has focused on the ‘public’ domain: on schools, colleges and other institutions. Using this traditionally male-centred activity as a yardstick it ignores the importance of knowledge transmission within the home and the community. This approach is limited and partial since women’s education over the centuries has taken place mostly outside institutions.
Dr Williams will examine the dispensing of education in nutrition, dietetics and cookery to poor women in 1930s Britain. She explained: “Historians have tended not to question the value of advice handed out by government-funded ‘experts' to poor women in the years of the Depression. Research, however, has revealed a different story: that most women believed they already knew how to choose food and cook for their families and they resented this undervaluing of their skills by representatives of the ‘public’ world.”
Dr Williams will be available by arrangement for interview at any time on Monday 12 April prior to the seminar. She can be contacted via Dr David Smith, Department of History on 01224 273676.