The Miseducation of Women [Paperback]

James Tooley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 2003

Girls and boys are different. So why do our schools insist on treating them as identical? Could this misguided equality have anything to do with the increasing dissatisfaction among women that is revealed in survey after survey? Do gender-blind educational policies in fact work to women's disadvantage? Bringing together many women's voices, from Bridget Jones to Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan to Germaine Greer, James Tooley challenges education's sacred cows, demanding a radical rethinking of sexual politics and a fairer way forward for women. The Miseducation of Women landed like a bombshell when it was published in England a few months ago; but Mr. Tooley's book, replete with examples and anecdotes from the United States as well as Great Britain, has equal application to the gender arguments on this side of the Atlantic.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Tooley, British professor of education, takes to task the U.S and British educational systems for succumbing to feminists in the last 30 years and misdirecting young women into early careers instead of marriage and motherhood. The result is what he calls the "Bridget Jones syndrome," young women suddenly realizing they're squandering their prime opportunities to marry and reproduce. Refuting educational policy in the U.S and Britain that promotes gender equality, Tooley argues that boys and girls are different and should be counseled differently on life and career choices. He counters the arguments of famous feminists Simone de Beauvoir, Germaine Greer, and Betty Friedan with Bridget Jones' Diary and vignettes of unhappy young women who have sacrificed personal lives for careers. Echoing Friedan, Tooley announces that the "problem that has no name" is the misdirection of feminism. First published in England to scathing criticism, this book is sure to spark vociferous debate in the U.S. as well. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

The truth in Prof. Tooley's polemic lies not so much in what he says about the national curriculum....Rather, it is in his spirited assault on the 'hidden' curriculum-those underlying messages that schools send pupils. (London Telegraph )

This book is designed to create a stir. It is carefully wrought to engage readers who might be coming from very different directions. . . . I disagreed passionately with much of Tooley's thesis . . . but he does engage the reader. (Caroline St. John-Brooks Times Educational Supplement )

...Sensible and well-argued. (Evangelical Now )

A new and enthusiastic entrant into the [gender] debate takes the argument to a different, altogether more controversial level. (Evening Standard )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee; 1st edition (July 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566635446
• ISBN-13: 978-1566635448
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,766,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Tooley is professor of education policy at Newcastle University, where he directs the E. G. West Centre. For his ground-breaking research on private education for the poor in India, China and Africa, Professor Tooley was awarded gold prize in the first International Finance Corporation/Financial Times Private Sector Development Competition in September 2006. For the past two years, he was President of The Education Fund, Orient Global, living in Hyderabad, India. He is currently chairman of education companies in Ghana and China and advisor to a company in India, all creating embryonic chains of low cost private schools.

Prior to joining Newcastle University, Professor Tooley previously taught and researched at the Universities of Oxford and Manchester, England; Simon Fraser University, Canada; and University of the Western Cape, South Africa. His PhD is from the Institute of Education, University of London. His first job was as a mathematics high school teacher in Zimbabwe, which he took up after graduating with a degree in mathematics and philosophy from Sussex University. His work has been featured in documentaries for the BBC and PBS: for the latter it was profiled alongside the work of Nobel Laureate Mohammed Yunus and Grameen Bank.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read, September 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Miseducation of Women (Hardcover)

This book focuses on Education Policy and how feminism has shaped girls' education today. It is a book about life and choices, admittedly women's choices, but what's wrong with that? Women write about men all the time, so why shouldn't Tooley tread on some feminist toes, put himself into the lions den (or should that be lionesses den?) and write what indeed is a very well structured and argued book. It is interesting and a true pleasure to read from the point of view of both its style and content. The book will raise all kinds of emotions within the reader. It has humour as well as self confessional moments, it will provide you with an insight into the works of feminists, both past and present, as well to stimulate you into learning more about evolutionary psychology and how it shapes who we are. It will make you question your own schooling and whether you have been shaped by the equality feminists of the 70s and 80s, rightly or wrongly. Tooley wishes to celebrate the differences between women and men, it neither denigrates women, not talks about turning the clock back where women were denied choices. In fact Tooley does totally the opposite. He wishes to celebrate the beauty of women, their role in the family, and values those women who choose not only motherhood and family life, but those who choose to be Prime Ministers and speakers of the House.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read, September 11, 2002

By 

dr pd "paulinedixon" (Northumberland England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Miseducation of Women (Hardcover)

This book focuses on Education Policy and how feminism has shaped girls' education today. It is a book about life and choices, admittedly women's choices, but what's wrong with that? Women write about men all the time, so why shouldn't Tooley tread on some feminist toes, put himself into the lions den (or should that be lionesses den?) and write what indeed is a very well structured and argued book. It is interesting and a true pleasure to read from the point of view of both its style and content. The book will raise all kinds of emotions within the reader. It has humour as well as self confessional moments, it will provide you with an insight into the works of feminists, both past and present, as well to stimulate you into learning more about evolutionary psychology and how it shapes who we are. It will make you question your own schooling and whether you have been shaped by the equality feminists of the 70s and 80s, rightly or wrongly. Tooley wishes to celebrate the differences between women and men, it neither denigrates women, not talks about turning the clock back where women were denied choices. In fact Tooley does totally the opposite. He wishes to celebrate the beauty of women, their role in the family, and values those women who choose not only motherhood and family life, but those who choose to be Prime Ministers and speakers of the House.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Feminists Wrecked Education, October 10, 2007

By 

Christopher Chantrill (Seattle, Washington, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Miseducation of Women (Paperback)

This book doesn't have a subtitle, which is a pity. It would go something like: The Totalitarian Rule of the Feminist Educators. James Tooley's story is that education has been utterly wrecked by ruthless and aggressive feminists who have stopped at nothing less than an education system utterly subservient to their agenda.

These "equity feminists" seem to think that the ideal life trajectory is that of a man: education followed by career. Why? They never seem to have thought of that. They (the Beaver, Friedan, etc.) just assumed that the grass was greener on the other side of the gender fence.

Now, you could say, why not? If women want to live the life of a man, why not?

Why not indeed? Tooley quotes Carolyn Graglia who was warmly encouraged by her teachers in the 1940s and 1950s, as a working-class girl, to go to college and become a lawyer. That was before the feminist revolution in education.

But why do feminists force every single boy and girl onto their Procrustean bed? In Britain girls and boys must take exactly the same subjects in school until age 16, Tooley writes. Then, as soon as there is choice, the girls veer towards languages and psych. and the boys start to choose hard science.

This book gave me something of an epiphany. I've been wondering for years: what is it that has wrecked the government education system of today? Surely we couldn't have have wrecked it merely with money and bureaucratic neglect?

Tooley gives us the answer. It is the hegemonic feminists who have ordered everything in government education, down to the smallest detail, to educate girls to their agenda and make them into "independent women," the ideal of Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex.

Their power, determination, and monomaniacal cruelty is breathtaking.