#edith abbott

Edith Abbott (1876-1957) was an economist and a pioneer in the field of social work. In 1924, she became the first female dean in the United States at the University of Chicago.

Edith Abbott was an American social worker and educator who co-authored "The Tenements of Chicago" with her sister, Grace. She served as Commissioner of Public Welfare in Nebraska from 1921-1937.

Edith Abbott and Sophonisba Breckinridge were one such couple.

In 1908, the two women joined forces at the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, where they became pioneers in the new profession of social work. At the same time, they formed a close, personal relationship.

Edith (left) and Grace Abbott during their years at University of Chicago

Edith and Grace Abbott grew up in the latter part of the nineteenth century in a middle-class family in Grand Island, Nebraska. Their father was a lawyer and served as Lieutenant Governor (1877-79) and their mother was an ardent supporter of women’s suffrage. The girls were raised as independent minds and in the spirit of community service that both of their parents strongly advocated and modeled. But their parents could not afford to send them to college, so each found their own means to enroll. Edith worked as a teacher and took correspondence classes. She eventually persuaded University of Chicago to award her a fellowship that enabled her to complete a PhD in economics in 1905, one of the first women to do so.

Edith went on to do postdoctoral work at the London School of Economics through a full fellowship. There she met Beatrice and Sidney Webb and became influenced by their thinking about the sources of and solutions for alleviating poverty. London is also where she became more familiar with the practical work in settlement houses. Later on, she would become a strong advocate of such progressive reforms by living in and working at the Jane Addams Hull House (Addams was the focus of an earlier entry in this blog).

Between 1908 and 1924 Edith worked as faculty at the University of Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, later to become the Graduate School of Social Service Administration. It was the first graduate program dedicated to this profession. In 1924 Edith was appointed Dean of this school, having become one of the most influential scholars on matters of childcare and social work. She was the first women to hold a deanship at University of Chicago.

Edith had a close relationship with her sister Grace, who also grew up with great academic and public service ambitions. They shared an interest in studying child welfare issues and improving the lives of immigrants. Together and on their own they contributed to enhancing social welfare policies through many studies and various forms of public advocacy and services. Grace completed her undergraduate and graduate studies closer to home, in Nebraska, but eventually moved to Chicago in 1907 to join he sister and work at the Hull House. She became very active in feminist and child welfare networks.

Grace was eventually asked to serve on the Child Labor Division of the U.S. Children’s Bureau (1917—1919 and 1921—1934). During this period she tried to get a constitutional amendment against child labor passed.  Though that effort failed, the points she made tirelessly to politicians and labor union leaders had an important impact on future behavior. Because of her work as a statistician and activist on behalf of social welfare Grace was asked to help draft the Social Security Act and worked for the Social Security Administration from 1934 until her death.  During that period of time, though working primarily in Washington, she also continued to teach at University of Chicago, where she held the title of Professor of public welfare.  She passed away in 1939 from cancer.

I had an assignment this past semester to research 5 educational leaders and besides the very well-known like Montessori, there wasn't a lot of source material for women.  As a women in tech, I'm used to the being in the minority and my gender underrepresented in the media, but I was a little surprised to find the same issue in education.  As David from the Cooperative Catalyst writes, "The majority of teachers in this country are women, their impact on the history of education is vast, but only a few are covered in textbooks on education or talked about among the major thinkers in the history of education." This lack of visibility and acknowledgement of the impact of women in education clearly points to a bigger societal issue.  It's an issue that the film Miss Representation takes up - the media's historical and ongoing misrepresentation of women.  Many found the film inspirational.  Frankly, I found it depressing to encounter so little progress in gender equity issues during my lifetime.  So, I'm always glad to see work like the crowdsourced celebration of women educators & philosophers. The only woman I wound up researching was Edith Abbott because I was looking for someone in her time period and her work clearly had a big impact on linking social services with public education.  I think she also represents a prevailing mindset in women who face stereotypes - they persevere.  They see a problem that needs solving, they advocate for others and they passionately pursue a solution.  I know many educators, male and female, who embody these same qualities. Edith Abbott (1876 - 1957) Social Reformer Edith Abbot was born in 1876 in Grand Island, Nebraska.  Abbott graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1901 and earned a doctorate degree in economics from the University of Chicago in 1905.  She also studied at the London School of Economics and then taught economics at Wellesley College until 1908. Abbott became the Assistant Director of the Research Department of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, which eventually became the School of Social Service Administration, where she was Dean from 1924 to 1942. She was also a consultant to Harry Hopkins, an adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Abbott's contribution to education was of an indirect nature.  She was passionate about women's rights, child welfare and immigration reform.  She was primarily concerned with seeing that a strong support system was in place for those in need and that it was staffed by well-trained social workers.  When she came to Chicago, social service agencies were disparate and under church or private control.  During her work in social services, she was instrumental in the transformation of this support from a private concern to a public mandate.  She wrote extensively about social work and public welfare, built a foundation for social worker education and was instrumental in creating social welfare legislation. Her impact on education can especially be seen through her concerns about poverty, child labor, truancy and immigrant integration.  In her study about truancy and non-attendance in the Chicago public schools, she upholds the need for compulsory education, but then shows how difficult it is for those living in poverty to comply.  Many of the recommendations made in her report; attendance-based funding, books provided free of charge, free meals for those in need and raising the compulsory education age to 16 are embedded in the current educational system.  It is in these recommended actions that she firmly links educational concerns with social welfare services. 

References

Abbott, E. & Brekinridge, S. (1917). Truancy and non-attendance in the Chicago schools. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

Harvard University. Working women: Edith Abbott.  Retrieved from http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww/abbott.html.