My Team has decided to work on the topic “Our goal is to utilize available digital technologies to shed light on the access and affordability of education in the US with a potential focus on gender inequality”.
Background study includes “Our topic is founded on the historical context of American higher education regarding gender segregation. In colonial America, higher education was gender-segregated, but the women’s rights movement spurred co-ed colleges. Nowadays, most US universities are co-educational, with exceptions. Within the gender inequality of the college system, black women have gone through different and more challenging experiences in pursuing higher education. Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have been integral in providing educational opportunities to Black women. Our colleges have notable histories of gendered education as well. While Carleton was founded as a co-ed school, Hamilton and Washington & Lee were originally men’s colleges, and Vassar, a historically women’s college. The history of gender inequality in higher education in America is extensive, and our project will require us to do research on important legislation and policy-making at our own school’s approach as well as across the country.
Research Questions
- What were strategies implemented by colleges and universities to encourage accessibility of higher education for women in the US?
- How do accessibility and affordability of higher education differ between rural and urban areas of the US?
- How did policies such as Title IX influence the experiences of women in higher education? Did this influence differ in the experiences of women of color in the US?
Sources
The potential sources we identified still require more research, but so far we plan to use:
- To determine the main trends in access and affordability, we’ll use Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) that ran from 1966 to 1986, later replaced by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPED). IPEDs data can be found here.
- We hope to use data about the all-women colleges that either closed down or merged with other universities.
- Information at our home universities on when they become coed and public perception, accessed through student newspapers and polls.
Methods
To see the trends related to gender inequality in higher education, we will compare the percentage of women-identifying people at universities over time. We’ll also look into the history of co-ed universities. We’ll consider the location to address research questions on these topics. The primary tools to create and analyze our data will be Open Refine, Excel, Recogito, and Voyant Tools.
Presentation
We are considering several presentation strategies, each will integrate mapping visuals and perhaps a physical timeline, since each institution has a different history of gender integration.
To enhance user understanding, we will include our school’s unique contexts in the map.
Regarding the integration of archival sources and data, most of our data will be sourced from institutional archives. Intellectual property issues largely do not apply to these sources, as most are open to public viewing.
Timeline
In the next three weeks, we will progress through three stages of production: research of the respective institutions (W&L, Hamilton, Carleton, and Vassar).
Help
We need to focus on understanding the current landscape, potential disparities, and potential solutions related to education in the US, particularly concerning gender inequality.
