This paper describes the role of gender in the politics of American education, as carried out in Philadelphia and its suburbs from 1905 to 1930. It discusses volunteerism as a way of life for middle-class American women in the 19th century, particularly within the realm of education. Women were able to act as advocates of school reform through…

Using a feminist perspective, this paper attempts to quantify the position of women in educational policymaking in Britain in this century at national and local levels. Women have been in the minority and have not generally been a "shrieking sisterhood," guided primarily by feminist principles. (SLD)