Our Daughters' Land

Past and Present

Edited by Sandra Betts

pp xi266 1996 paperback ISBN 0-7083-1335-3

The is the first book to examine the gendered nature of childhood within a specifically Welsh context.

Moving from the Middle Ages through to the end of the twentieth century, chapters draw upon both historical and social science research to explore the impact of changing social structures, and to look at the ways in which the education and socialization of boys and girls have differed.

Historical contributions examine new documentary evidence, while in studies of the classrooms and playgrounds of today we hear the children's own voices.

'This fasinating collection of essays . . . raise questions which are of much wider geographical significance . . . the book as a whole deals with issues and topics which have not been previousiy investigated in any depth in a Welsh context. It will be of interest to educationalists and to all those wishing to examine the history of childhood. The book is well-conceived and the chapters hang together very well.' (Educational Review)

' . . . a very significant book which provides some extremely rich data and lays an excellent foundation for further Welsh feminist research.' (Books in Wales)

Editor: Sandra Betts is a lecturer in Sociology at the University College of Wales, Bangor.

Contents

• Introduction + Gender and Generation. SANDRA BETTS

PART ONE
The Historical Gendering of Childhood and Adolescence

• Gender, Work and Socialisation in Wales c.1450+c.1850. MICHAEL ROBERTS
• The construction of genteel sensibilities: the socialisation of daughters of the gentry in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Wales. SIMONE CLARKE
• The gendering of the elementary and secondary school curriculum in Victorian and early twentieth-century Wales. W. GARETH EVANS
• Opportunity denied: The voices of the lost grammar school girls of the inter-war years. Graham GOODE AND SARA DELAMONT

PART TWO
Gender and Education in Contemporary Wales

• The culture and aspirations of Welsh secondary school pupils: a comparison between the sexes. RICHARD STARTUP AND BENJAMIN M. DRESSEL
• Sex, lies and the PSE Curriculum. LESLEY PUGSLEY
• Take Our Daughters to Work: A positive action for some schoolgirls in Wales. JANE SALISBURY

PART THREE
Gender and Socialization: The Development of Identity