From ‘Young Women’ to ‘Female Adolescents’:Dutch Advice Literature during the Long Nineteenth Century

In late eighteenth-century Europe, there was a rapid expansion in the publication of advice books directed at young adult women. Based on an examination of conduct books published in the Netherlands, this chapter traces the changing format of the genre from the last quarter of the eighteenth century through to the early decades of the twentieth century. It explores how women pedagogues in the nineteenth century developed new ways of advising young women that gave readers greater control over their life choices. In the early twentieth century, the emerging social sciences drew attention to the physical and emotional changes involved in female adolescence, prescribing for the young woman strict forms of behaviour

Coeducation:A Contested Practice in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Secondary Schooling

This chapter discusses the history of coeducation in secondary schooling, mainly in Europe and North America. The analysis focuses on the gendered characteristics of educational systems and curricula, as well as on national discourses about single-sex or mixed schooling. The focus is on the latter half of the nineteenth and the first decades of the twentieth century, when the merits and perils of coeducation were debated for this stage of schooling. Until after World War II, children of the working class hardly ever attended school past the age of 13 or 14. Therefore, this is a history of middle- and upper-class education. In the early nineteenth century, girls had to do with a very limited, private education that prepared only for homemaking and motherhood, while boys could attend public grammar schools that opened the door to the university and the professions. From the mid-nineteenth century, initiatives to improve the quality of girls’ education were taken. Few countries opened up boys’ public schools for girls; in most cases, new girls’ schools were established with more serious but still unequal curricula, focusing mainly on humanities. Schools teaching a curriculum equivalent to that of the boys’ schools were not created until after the turn of the century, when a more critical view of coeducation became the rule. Democratization and coeducation came hand in hand with the introduction of comprehensive mixed secondary schooling in the 1960s and 1970s. The shortcomings of coeducation, however, were not rediscovered until after it had generally been introduced

Nigellissima: A Study of Glamour, Performativity and Embodiment

This is a study of glamour, its complexities and its relationship with and role within celebrity culture. We explore glamour in the context of Nigella, the London-born TV cook, food writer and self-proclaimed ‘domestic goddess’ of British culinary culture. In our study we consider the interconnections between glamour, specifically Italian-style retro-glamour, and performativity in Nigella’s career. We also address the role of embodiment and authenticity in the masquerade of femininity. Our analysis focuses on Nigella’s glamour over time, considering its creation, enactment and reaffirmation following scandal. We conclude by speculating on glamour’s complex and ambivalent relationship with celebrity culture, and the role of vulnerability in creating authentic and enduring glamour in contemporary consumer society

‘New and important careers’: how women excelled at the BBC, 1923–1939

From its beginnings in 1923, the BBC employed a sizeable female workforce. The majority were in support roles as typists, secretaries and clerks but, during the 1920s and 1930s, a significant number held important posts. As a modern industry, the BBC took a largely progressive approach towards the ‘career women’ on its staff, many of whom were in jobs that were developed specifically for the new medium of broadcasting. Women worked as drama producers, advertising representatives and Children’s Hour Organisers. They were talent spotters, press officers and documentary makers. Three women attained Director status while others held significant administrative positions. This article considers in what ways it was the modernity and novelty of broadcasting, combined with changing employment possibilities and attitudes towards women evident after the First World War, that combined to create the conditions in which they could excel

Poverty and mental health: the work of the female sanitary inspectors in Bradford (c. 1901–1912)

This is the final version of the article. Available from Palgrave Macmillan via the DOI in this record.Although there are many excellent studies of the work of pioneer women public health officers, few accounts dwell on mental health issues or discuss any relationship that such staff might have understood to exist between poverty and mental health in the early twentieth century. This is a remarkable omission considering that social and feminist historians have highlighted the problems created by the way early practitioners sought to manage poverty and arguably the poor. Drawing on records created by Female Sanitary Inspectors (FSIs) in Bradford, this study chronicles distressing economic and social conditions but also reveals encounters between the staff and people experiencing mental health problems and mental health crises. The ways in which the FSIs chose to both make and deny links between the abject poverty witnessed in the slum districts and cases of mental disorder forms an important strand to the analysis that follows. Interestingly, it is the well-being of the staff that emerges as a persistent and even over-riding concern.This work was generously supported by Wellcome Trust Grant 074999. This was a personal fellowship entitled 'The Medical Officer of Health and the Organisation of Health Visiting as a Comprehensive Community Health Service, 1906-1974'

Giving voice: an oral history of speech and language therapy

© 2020 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists Background: The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2020. The historical study of speech and language therapy (SLT) has been very limited. A small number of publications have traced the changes in the profession over time, but to date there has been no comprehensive work undertaken to gain an insight into the experiences of UK speech therapists who entered the newly formed profession after 1945. Aims: To use an oral history methodology to explore the life stories of early members of the profession. Methods & Procedures: Participants were recruited through RCSLT networks. Interviews were held across England and Scotland. Conversations were audio recorded and analysed using thematic network analysis. Archive material was used to complement participants’ narratives. Outcomes & Results: Participants were 19 women who qualified between 1945 and 1968. Three global themes emerged: personal, professional and political stories. On a personal level, each reported steps towards autonomy and agency within the social constraints they experienced. Professionally, all commented on the vast expansion in the range of identifiable clinical fields between 1945, when the first participant qualified, and 2008, when the last participant retired. Politics and social policies impacted upon their lives and, sometimes to their surprise, the participants found themselves campaigning politically in pursuit of fairness for their profession. Conclusions & Implications: This paper offers a unique insight into the challenges and achievements participants experienced over their careers as early practitioners in the UK profession

Value of a University Education As Perceived by Students and Their Families Before the War: Male Graduates, 1930-1939

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.This study aimed to explore the ways in which male students calculated the costs and benefits of higher education in England in the 1930s, before the establishment of mandatory grants and awards; together with an analysis of the strategies used for meeting the costs of this investment. It was designed to complement the researcher's earlier study of women graduates of the same period, which was carried out in 1995 with support from the Spencer Foundation in Chicago.Main Topics:A total of 1085 four page questionnaires were distributed to men who had graduated from eight English universities and university colleges before 1939. Respondents were asked to give information about their social background and the ways in which they had met the expense of their years at college. They were also asked about their subsequent careers. A total of 577 completed questionnaires were obtained. This database contains only that material, extracted from the completed questionnaires, which could be effectively anonymised. Entries give information about family of origin and family of destination. They give some indication of reasons for going to university. The bulk of the information relates to family support and type of funding. Main variables: institution, father's occupation, mother's occupation, family of origin size, reasons for going to university, arts or sciences, subject, degree result, extent of family funding, state scholarship, local authority scholarship, board of education grant, school scholarship, university/college scholarship, loans taken out, other sources of support, teaching qualification, place of residence, vacation work, first occupation, other occupations, marital status, number of children, wife's occupation before marriage, wife's employment status after marriage, notes. The original questionnaires remain in the possession of the depositor and access is embargoed. Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.<br