More on Diane Ravitch's book. (Link via Banana Oil). In Merle Rubin's Tests, textbooks: Only men bake cookies in these parts, a review of The Language Police, How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn:

A "bias and sensitivity" panel rejected a number of reading passages for a voluntary national test (which was eventually defeated in Congress), including

a passage about the patchwork quilts made by 19th century frontier women: "The reviewers objected to the portrayal of women as people who stitch and sew, and who were concerned about preparing for marriage." The fact that the passage was historically accurate was considered no defense for its "stereotypical" image of women and girls.

Yeah, this is the kind of stuff I see in many surverys of Chinese history. For most of Chinese history, women didn't have much power, so what do some people want to do? Focus on Nyu shu (women's writing) and non-marrying sisterhoods. Sure, they existed, but that wasn't the way things worked for most women.