Women superintendents: the contribution of Margaret MacDowall and other women managers of mental deficiency institutions in England
✍ Scribed by Dr Andy R. A. Stevens
- Book ID
- 104470541
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2000
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 225 KB
- Volume
- 28
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1354-4187
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Summary
The present paper explores gender differences in the management of mental deficiency institutions. It suggests that women played a particularly significant part in the management of some of the earliest institutions, and had a significant influence from the nineteenth century until well into the twentieth century. In addition, this study addresses the particular contribution of Miss S. Margaret MacDowall (1862–1930). Miss MacDowall's work demonstrates that teaching regimes and conditions in some types of smaller institutions run by women compare favourably to larger institutions run by men. The present paper further suggests that small institutions run by women during the Mental Deficiency Acts are worthy of more detailed study because these provide a continuity between nineteenth‐century pedagogic traditions and modern forms of community‐based residential care, and can offer useful ideas for developing residential care in the future.