Educating Women

Conference Theme

Imperialism and globalization have made migration (both voluntary and involuntary) a modern way of life that poses both old and new challenges for educating women in postmodernity.  Both literally and figuratively women of diverse origins have been crossing borderlands on maps of the world’s tribal territories and nations, and of our educational and cultural institutions as well, confronting new problems and creating new possibilities.  We all have been challenged to learn anew, to inquire, to transform our cultures and ourselves—to educate again.

This conference will focus on learning imaginatively and collaboratively in diverse settings, within and beyond the limits of formal curricula.   As researchers, activists, scholars, artists, writers, healers, and community leaders, conference presenters will focus on both past and current contexts within which women and girls experience and practice education. 

Submission of Papers and Proposals:

The “gown” program review committee is inter-disciplinary and inter-generational, consisting of both senior and junior scholars within each of the following fields: philosophy, history, and anthropology/sociology of education; women’s studies; and adult education.  Paper and proposal submissions are not restricted to these fields, however.  The committee will make every reasonable effort to expand its membership to other fields as needed to provide appropriately specialized intergenerational reviews of submitted research and thought on educating women and girls.

Each submission will be reviewed blindly by at least two reviewers in its apparent discipline and at least one outside that discipline.  Criteria for review include significance of the research, quality and clarity of formulation, relevance of methods and sources.  Preference will be given to inquiries that evidence interpretive or critical scholarship, philosophical or theoretical development, historical or ethnographic research, or well-documented reviews of practices and literature, rather than to polemical arguments. 

We welcome your submission of papers and proposals within any of the following four strands, addressing this context from your own most meaningful location.  The list offered for each strand below aims to suggest rather than limit the range of possible topics you might choose to address.

Strand 1: Documentation, Funding, Publication, and Review of Inquiries on Educating Girls and Women— For example, history of educational thought by/about women in Mexico & the Caribbean, government-funded projects on women & education, UNESCO and girls’ & women’s education, comparative analysis of educational thought on gender in Australasia & Europe, women’s histories within selected academic organizations or educational foundations, gender analysis of scholarly journals across disciplines and/or nations, gender analysis of recently published dissertations in Canada, gender trends in academic presses, major research projects funded by centers for research on girls & women and gender & sexuality, collections of women's papers, library collections related to girls' & women's education, review of women’s educational narratives published by small presses, reviews of film documentaries by/about/for educating women, conceptual maps or chronologies of variously specialized or located thought on educating girls & women.

Strand 2: Educating Girls & Women in Non-school Settings—For example, intergenerational education between women & girls within immigrant families, educating women in/through the arts, women returning to school or higher education, narratives of educating women as professional mentors, women’s civic education through political participation, women & extension services of land-grant institutions, women’s education in selected workplaces, education for girls in community recreational groups, gender analysis of home schooling, educating girls with toys, gender & military training, educating girls & women in hospitals & clinics & prisons, historical narratives of education in service sororities or women’s clubs, philosophical analysis of religious curricula for girls & women, educating girls & women in shelters or social settlements, educating women through underground media, gender analysis of health & beauty in mass media, life writings & thought by & about educating women

Strand 3:  Women & Girls in Preschool through Secondary Schooling—For example, studies of female literacy in selected nations, research on globalization and girls’ schooling, gender and school administration, girls' access to educational technology, the history of feminist activism in teachers’ unions, women’s interethnic education through schooling immigrant girls, language and women's education, the status & power of women faculty, girls of color in public schools, women’s narratives of schooling, philosophical history of home economics in schools, gender and teacher education, health & sexuality education for schoolgirls, gender and educational toys, women’s representation in textbooks & school libraries, studies of education for girls with disabilities, international comparisons of girls' achievement in science & mathematics or arts & humanities, race & gender in public schools, histories of girls’ schooling in selected nations, feminist pedagogies in schools.

Strand 4: Women in Higher Education—For example, research on women's changing access to higher education, gender & sexual diversity in higher education faculties, gender and the academic disciplines, educating women in community colleges, gender analysis of online higher education, women’s movements for family-friendly & anti-racist campus developments, strategies women have used to gain increased access to higher education, women’s contributions to curricular change in higher education, philosophical history of women's higher education, international or interethnic comparative histories of home economics & women’s studies in higher education, research on girls & women sponsored by higher education institutions, trends in dissertation topics related to women's education, historical studies of women's institutions, challenges facing women's studies programs in selected regions, women’s education for professions, educating women in STEM, biographies & autobiographies of women students & faculty.

 
Paper Submissions:

Those who wish to have their papers considered for online publication as articles in the forthcoming (refereed) EDUCATING WOMEN journal must submit complete papers rather than mere proposals.  Selected paper submissions may be granted longer sessions at the conference to allow for in-depth presentation and discussion. Such submissions may not exceed 4500 words, including footnotes, and must be formatted in accordance with the Chicago Manual of Style.  A title page must accompany the paper submission and include an abstract of 200 words; a copyright waiver must accompany the paper submission as well.

 
Proposal Submissions:

No proposal text may exceed two double-spaced, printed pages (1000 words). All submissions must indicate the type of proposal (Panel, Symposium, Working Paper, or Roundtable), names, affiliations, and contact information of all participants.  Proposals must reference sources to be consulted.  But references to your own name, institutional affiliation, or work must be omitted from the paper or proposal itself, including the notes. 

Panel Discussion. Panel proposal descriptions should indicate the topic, its significance, the panelists' and moderator’s backgrounds (no names, please) and the way in which the material will be discussed.  Propose one moderator and no fewer than three and no more than four panelists.

Symposium. A symposium is composed of participants who deliver brief presentations, based on prepared papers or essays, representing diverse approaches to one topic.  A symposium’s description should discuss the topic, its significance, backgrounds of the presenters (no names, please), and presenters' distinctive approaches.  A symposium will typically feature four participants: three paper presentations plus a chair’s brief critical response, or two paper presentations plus two critical responses (with a proposed fifth person as discussion moderator).

Working Paper. Proposals to present individually or jointly authored working papers should briefly indicate the topic and the way it will be treated, address the significance of the topic, and discuss the background of the presenter (no name, please). Proposed working papers accepted for presentation will have to "fit" with other working papers into a cohesive session at the conference. No working-paper presentation’s length may exceed 10 pages (2500 words), or about 15-20 minutes.

Round Table.  Proposals to discuss research prospecti, grant application drafts, or other substantially researched work-in-progress in an informal collaborative setting should detail the question, problem, artifact, phenomenon, context, policy, or claim being investigated, relevant sources/resources, likely direction, and mode(s) of analysis. Criteria for review include originality and clarity of focus, suitability of sources/resources, suitability of mode(s) of analysis, and potential for significant contribution to educational women’s & gender studies as well as
practices of educating girls or women.  Every attempt will be made to appoint roundtable session chairs who are senior scholars likely to respond with helpful advice.

Particular Postscripts:

The Society for Educating Women welcomes donations of archival materials that may be preserved and made accessible online to document thoughts by & about and practices of & for educating women, as well as papers and proposals that describe such archives, for possible future research projects.  SEW also welcomes papers and proposals that may contribute to the proposed project of developing an encyclopedic survey of ideas by, about, and for educating women across a wide variety of specialties and locations now isolated from one another; such contributions might be bibliographic essays, chronologies, analytic definitions, conceptual classification schemes and maps, or biographical summaries that lay out material for possible future inclusion in that major collaborative effort.  Papers and proposals that fit these particular purposes may take any form detailed above:  Paper Submissions or Proposals of Panels, Symposia, Working Papers, or Roundtable Sessions

In spring 2010, the Society for Educating Women will solicit “town” proposals for this SEW conference from school-people and other community educators who are actively, critically, and creatively engaged in educating girls and women and want to present poster sessions, workshop sessions, panel discussions, performances, exhibits, or sessions in other formats.

Program Committee:

Chair:
Susan Birden, SUNY- Buffalo State

Members:
Nisha Gupta, Syracuse University
Wanda Davis, SUNY-Buffalo State
Ming-Yeh Lee, San Francisco State University
Thalia Mulvihill, Ball State University
Stacy Otto, Illinois State University
Patrocinio Schweickart, Purdue University
Amy Shuffleton, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater
Lyndsay Spear, University of Indiana
Ruth Trinidad-Galvan, University of New Mexico
Mara Witzling, University of New Hampshire
Virginia Worley, Oklahoma State University