Education

Abstract

The men who began to work for improved secondary education and access to higher education for girls and women in the mid-nineteenth century did so for several motives. Perhaps the most widespread, now that success in the professions was no longer barred by class but was being opened to competition, was that educated mothers could give their sons a grounding and a start in life. Then there were men who reflected that in the long run educated women are likely to be less boring marriage partners than the ignorant. Educated daughters too might be able to earn a little money and relieve the expenses of large middleclass Victorian families, though there were few openings for their employment except as governesses and companions, and in writing.

How can you give a woman self respect?

F. D. Maurice, Inaugural Lecture at Queen’s College, London (1848)