Women's Education
1783-Present
Significance:
Because women stepped up during the Revolution to help the war, they proved their mental and physical ablilities. Women were initially only allowed an education in order to teach their children. Education took awhile to come into effect for women, yet after many reactions, reforms were created. Men saw how women had stepped up during the war, which justified their right to become equal to men.
Because women stepped up during the Revolution to help the war, they proved their mental and physical ablilities. Women were initially only allowed an education in order to teach their children. Education took awhile to come into effect for women, yet after many reactions, reforms were created. Men saw how women had stepped up during the war, which justified their right to become equal to men.
"The postwar period witnessed accelerating changes in American white women's lives, for their wartime experiences and the developing ideology of republicanism combined to alter both society's view of them and their own self-conceptions." -Mary Beth Norton, Historian
1783
Education for women began 1780s Schools were opened to all children Benjamin Rush promotes women's education After the war, women's rights were demolished, they were granted education only for "Republican Motherhood" to educate their children, forming a new generation of intellects. Males and authority heads tried to restore the old order of authority, yet the war had formed a new generations. The daughers of the women involved in the war wanted their rights.
Education began at home through basic skills such as manners, knowledge in housekeeping, and being pleasant and proper in society.
Opposing Viewpoint: Yet, many men still believed education should be restricted to men, Such as Noah Webster: "Good education renders the ladies correct in their manners, respectable in their families and agreeable in society." |
Grid Showing Movement Into Advanced Education
After this point children were enrolled in schools, and women were educated
"The Americans' vision of an ideal woman--an independent thinker and patriot, a virtuous wife, competent household manager, and knowledgeable mother--required formal instruction in a way that the earlier paragon, the notable housewife, did not. Moreover, Americans' wartime experiences convinced them that the women needed broader training to prepare them for unforeseen contingencies." -Mary Beth Norton |