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Women superintendents: the contribution of Margaret MacDowall and other women managers of mental deficiency institutions in England
Author(s) -
Stevens Andy R. A.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
british journal of learning disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.633
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1468-3156
pISSN - 1354-4187
DOI - 10.1046/j.1468-3156.2000.00041.x
Subject(s) - work (physics) , mental handicap , sociology , mental deficiency , residential care , psychology , gerontology , psychiatry , medicine , engineering , mechanical engineering
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.