Striving for the Ideal

highlights the challenges faced by “New Women” like Breckinridge, who struggled to balance duty to family with a calling to service. For nearly ten years, Breckinridge searched for a meaningful vocation while fulfilling her duty to her family. She taught school, practiced law, and traveled abroad, but she was unable to reconcile her professional goals with her family obligations. This chapter also addresses Breckinridge’s pursuit of higher education at the University of Chicago, where she earned both an MA in political science and a PhD in political economy and became the top-ranked member of the first graduating class of the University of Chicago’s new law school.