'Sweeping the Heavens for a Comet': the Language of Political Economy, and Higher Education in the US

The importance of increased levels of education in improving the status of women throughout the world is well established. Higher levels of education are associated with lower birth rates, higher incomes, and greater autonomy for women. Yet, women's struggle to have a voice in higher education has been fraught with difficulties in the US and worldwide, particularly in overcoming widely held perceptions that limit their entrance into certain academic fields, tenured positions, and elite universities. This essay examines the role political economy has played in providing narratives that rationalize women's limited participation in higher education. By examining the representation of women in the academic culture of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century US, we can perhaps better understand women's struggle to obtain an authoritative voice in higher learning worldwide.

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	May, Ann Mari Professor of Economics Expertise: Political Business Cycles Gender Specialist in Social Sciences Feminist Economics U.S. Economic History Women and Higher Education Economics CBA 349 P.O. Box 880489 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588-0489, USA Phone: (402) 472-3369 Fax: (402) 472-9700 amay1@unl.edu	May, Ann Mari	Economics