(Group 2)

Education for women during the 19thcentury was rare, but evolving. In the early 19thcentury in England, about 60% of women were illiterate. This had much to do with the lack of formal education opportunities for women, as instead women often learned specific boast-worthy skills, like drawing, playing piano, etc., instead of receiving an actual meaningful education. This injustice in terms of education is brought up in Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women, which was originally published in 1792 and in which Wollstonecraft directly addresses the stark difference between education of women and men and how women were at an extreme disadvantage. She pointed out how women's education had no promise or emphasis on futurity and instead was solely about attracting suitors. The inequality of education is also pointed at in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, in which Jane recounts her years at Lowood's school for girls. Jane says, “My world had for some years been in Lowood: my experience had been of its rules and systems; now I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had courage to go forth into its expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst its perils.” (Bronte pg. 101)  From this, we see that her time in education is considered seperate from "real knowledge" and world experience. We know Jane received education to be a governess, but did not have much opportunity past this.  By the 19thcentury, people began becoming a bit more proactive in terms of education for women, and many positive turning points for women’s education in England occurred. 

In 1849, Elizabeth Jesser Reid founded Bedford College, which is one of the earliest records of a higher education college for women in the United Kingdom. Before this, colleges in England were only made available to male students, denying women the ability of higher education. The forming of the college was considered revolutionary and radical because it extended past previous educational training of women to be governesses. The opening of the college marked women’s opportunity for thorough education to prepare them for their actual independent futures and possible careers- increasing both culture and literacy for women in the 19thcentury.  The founding of the college does pay respects to Wollstonecraft’s call for women’s education reform.  Though the college started out small, it soon expanded vastly and became a part of the University of London. George Eliot, author of Mill on the Floss, was among one of Bedford College’s first students. After the college was founded in 1860, the national illiteracy rate among women in England had decreased from 60% to 40%, showing how the creation of higher education positively affected the women of the 19thcentury. 

More Information: https://youtu.be/vkJJFX8Qn90

https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/history-womens-education-uk/#aId=...

Bibliography:

“A History of Women's Education in the UK.” Oxford Royale Academy, 27 Jan. 2020, www.oxford-royale.com/articles/history-womens-education-uk/.

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre (Penguin Classics). Penguin, 2011.

Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “University of London.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2013, www.britannica.com/topic/University-of-London.

Oldfield, Sybil. “Reid [Née Sturch], Elizabeth Jesser (1789–1866), Slavery Abolitionist and Founder of Bedford College, London.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2020, www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780....

Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Women. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016.