Leading ladies: The re-production of "successful womanhood" in elite, private girls' schooling

Elite girls' schools offer crucial sites for investigating the construction of ideal womanhood. They play key roles In the social re-production of gendered (and classed) practices, and in "setting" societal standards. This study, based upon Interviews with former students of elite girls' schools and analysis of promotional materials, reveals gaps between school rhetoric and everyday practice that exacerbate the contradictions and confusions identified by many participants in this study. The theoretical apparatus used uniquely synthesizes the "schizoid double-pull", "ambivalence", and "divided habitus", to conceptualise young women's aporetic experiences in late modernity. The findings show that, even for those most advantaged, no-one is a winner in the game of "successful womanhood".