Deans of Women and the Feminist Movement

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxvi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Kelly C. Sartorius

   Pages 1-18

3. Visions of Economic Citizenship

   • Kelly C. Sartorius

   Pages 19-42

4. Practicing Political Citizenship

   • Kelly C. Sartorius

   Pages 43-58

5. Unlocking Women’s Autonomy

   • Kelly C. Sartorius

   Pages 59-85

6. A World without Parietals

   • Kelly C. Sartorius

   Pages 87-118

7. The Dean of Women in the Age of Protest

   • Kelly C. Sartorius

   Pages 119-144

8. From Quiet Activism to Radical Tactics

   • Kelly C. Sartorius

   Pages 145-168

9. From Deans to Presidents

   • Kelly C. Sartorius

   Pages 169-185

10. Back Matter

    Pages 187-252

    PDF

This book explores how deans of women actively fostered feminism in the mid-twentieth century through a study of the career of Dr. Emily Taylor, the University of Kansas dean of women from 1956-1974. Sartorius links feminist activism by deans of women with labor activism, the New Left movement, and the later rise of women's studies as a discipline.

• autonomy
• feminism
• New Left
• university
• women

"A significant contribution to the history of feminism and of higher education in the United States, Deans of Women and the Feminist Movement explores women deans' commitment to gender parity in education and work from the early twentieth century. Using Emily Taylor's career as a lens, the book uncovers feminist work in the academy from the 1930s to the 1970s and decisively challenges a range of assumptions about feminist activism in these decades: that feminism went quiescent, that feminists were largely on the political left in American cities, and that the academy was a site of social conformity." - Mary Ann Dzuback, Director of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, USA, and author of Robert M. Hutchins: Portrait of an Educator

"Drawing on fresh archival research and extensive oral history interviews with the University of Kansas's Emily Taylor, one of the era's most important deans, Sartorius's engaging book opens up a new chapter inwriting about the history of student affairs and the history of women in education. Sartorius paints a compelling portrait of Taylor and provides a persuasive account of how modern deans of women helped empower women and fought for gender equity in higher education." - Andrea Walton, Associate Professor of Education and Philanthropic Studies, Indiana University Bloomington, USA

"Emily Taylor, observes her astute biographer, may have been the 'last of the great Deans of Women' at the then-male-dominated public universities who, under the guise of protecting women students, raised fundamental questions: Why educate women? Were they, like men, preparing for work in the public realm? If so, which employers would hire women? Taylor's own awareness that society valued her contributions less than those of the men around her placed her on the forefront of a feminist agenda for women's access to equal pay and professional advancement. In today's environment, Emily Taylor would have been on the forefront of the 'No Means No' movement to counter on-campus sexual assault." - Sheila Tobias, author of Overcoming Math Anxiety; They're not Dumb, They're Different: Stalking the Second Tier, and Faces of Feminism: An Activist's Reflections on the Women's Movement

Kelly Sartorius is Director of Development, Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St Louis, USA.

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