"Pioneering women" and "founding mothers": women's history and projecting feminism onto the past

• Published in: Women and language Vol. 28; no. 2; pp. 12 - 22
• Main Authors: Golombisky, Kim, Holtzhausen, Derina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Urbana George Mason University 22.09.2005; Organization for the Study of Communication Language and Gender
• Subjects: College students; Discrimination; Females; Feminism; Forecasts and trends; Gender; Gender identity; Graduate students; History; Journalists; Language teaching methods; Market trend/market analysis; Mothers; Narratives; North America; Oral history; Parents & parenting; Reflexivity; Self concept; Settlers; Sex discrimination; Sex Role Identity; Sex roles; Sexism; Teaching; Victims; Women; Womens History; United States; New York; United States > US
• ISSN: 8755-4550

This essay provides an object lesson on "projecting feminism onto the past," meaning the presumption that historically significant women identify with women's movement or feminism, interpret their experiences via women's gender identity, or view themselves as victims of sex discrimination. The authors demonstrate "projecting feminism onto the past" using two oral history projects conducted by graduate students, one on "pioneering women " and another on "founding mothers." After discussing challenges in doing women's history, the authors tease out the implications of the two projects by examining: (1) the language of "pioneering women" and "founding mothers," (2) the students' preconceptions about their narrators, and (3) the narrators ' confusion regarding questions about women's issues. The authors wonder about reconciling the goals of research projects with the self-interpretations of women who are the subjects of research, as well as about teaching new scholars how to approach women's topics. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]