The Distance between Feminism and Early Childhood Education: An Historical Perspective.

Despite the strong association between women educators and young children, a chasm exists between "education feminism" and early childhood education. This paper explores why this chasm exists, and offers ways in which the two fields can be brought together. The relationship of feminism and early childhood education is explored, using history as a frame of reference. The evolution of feminist thinking about young children and their education is examined, as is the development of the field of early childhood education. The paper concludes by calling into question the hegemonic domination of developmental psychology, the theoretical foundation upon which early childhood education is built, and suggests that feminist theory and epistemology could provide a viable foundation for a new vision of early childhood education. The paper argues that the unification of feminism and early childhood education would benefit both fields. Contains 50 references. (AS)