The Rise of Home Economics at the University of Washington
Despite working in cramped 'shacks,' the university’s surging Home Economics department is equipping young women with the skills for careers ranging from dietetics to interior design.
Practical adaptation to circumstances at hand is one of the principles of Home Economics. This could not be more clearly illustrated than it is in the two small shacks which house the 32 courses given to our 300 students by the rapidly growing Department of Home Economics at the University of Washington. Three years ago, the classes in Home Economics at the University of Washington enrolled 84; today there are enrolled 431. It is the aim of the department to give training needed by every woman, whether she teaches, goes into business, manages a lunch room, does interior decorating, becomes a dietician in a hospital, or buyer in stores of millinery, laces, ready-made garments, dress goods, or becomes a sanitary inspector or a pure foods expert.
“No other work given by college courses opens up so many lines of future usefulness.”
This report highlights a pivotal era where higher education began transitioning from 'domestic science' toward professionalized career training for women. It frames the struggle for space and academic legitimacy as a metaphor for the broader push for women's workforce participation.
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