WOMEN’ S EDUCATION THROUGH HISTORY & AROUND THE WORLD
EGYPT:
In ancient Egypt, women enjoyed relatively high status in comparison with other ancient societies. They could own property, work as musicians or professional mourners, and some, like Hatshepsut, even become pharaohs. Hatshepsut’ s reign from 1486 to 1468 B. C. was a prosperous time for Egypt. Her daughter, Neferure, was thought to have been educated by royal tutors.
GREECE:
In his book A History of Education in Antiquity, H. I. Marrou describes a woman’ s situation in the ancient Greek warrior state of Sparta:
Their first duty was to produce as many bouncing babies as possible, and all their education was subordinated to this one end.
And even though women were educated in Sparta, schooling did not always include subjects that are today considered to be the essential“ core” subjects. Marrou continues: The girls too were brought up to be Spartans. Their education was rigidly controlled, with music, dancing and singing occupying a less important place than gymnastics and sport.
ROME:
In ancient Rome it was not uncommon for upper-class women to be educated but, as was the case in ancient Sparta, childrearing was a woman’ s top priority. Because mothers were expected to raise children to be proper Roman citizens, it was imperative that they have some education to properly instruct their children. Some women learned to read and write, while others became accomplished public speakers, artists, and scribes. However, the point of a Roman woman’ s education was not her own edification, but rather the benefaction of her family.
MOROCCO:
Many women proved extremely generous patrons of education and the arts, sharing their love of knowledge and culture with their communities. The University of al-Qarawiyyin, located in modern-day Morocco, is the oldest continually operated university in the world. It was established in 859 and still functions today. It is the first educational institution to award degrees. Its founder was Fatima al-Fihri— a woman. Al- Fihri, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, was herself educated.
AZTECS:
Although boys and girls were, educated separately in Aztec society, education was considered universally valuable for both sexes. Parents dedicated their infants to either the calmecac( house of tears) or the telpochcalli( house of youths). The calmecac focused on religion, with male graduates eventually taking on responsibilities as priests or high officials. Boys who entered the telpochcalli frequently became warriors. House affiliation could depend on preference or talents, but more often matched a family’ s social standing. Students of the calmecac came from high society, while those of the telpochcalli were of a lower class. There is evidence that the calmecac and telpochcalli may have served as specialized craft schools for boys and girls. Artisanship was vital for Aztec ritual culture.
As adolescents, boys and girls attended the culcacalli( house of song) where they learned to sing, dance, and play musical instruments. These talents were integral in the transmission of history, culture, and religion. In this house children were also taught poetry and astrology, which was thought to play a big part in their fate. Women throughout Aztec history gained great fame for their talents in both poetry and music.
TOKUGAWA & MEIJI ERA JAPAN:
In the late 1860s only a meager 10-15 percent of Japanese girls were thought to have any sort of formal schooling. It wasn’ t until the end of the Tokugawa Era( 1600-1867) that this became possible on a larger scale. Even then, what formal schooling girls did have access to usually related only to the traditional tea ceremony, flower arranging, and etiquette. Several years later in 1872, during the Meiji Era, the Fundamental Code of Education established a new system in which, regardless of sex, primary education was obligatory. The preamble of the code reads,“ While advanced education is left to the ability and means of the individual, a guardian who fails to send a young child, whether a boy or a girl, to primary school shall be deemed negligent of his duty.”
POLAND:
Marie Curie made history in 1903 when she became the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in physics for her work on radioactivity. But her path to greatness was one strewn with obstacles.
Though she had top marks in secondary school she was barred from continuing her education. Higher education opportunities for women in the Russian Empire and Europe were extremely limited. The University of Warsaw was only open to male students. Consequently, she was forced to take classes at the secret educational enterprise known as the floating( or flying) university. The illegal informal“ university” was open to both men and women and taught sometimes forbidden subjects, like Polish history and Catholicism, among other less taboo courses. Teachers and students were forced to change locations frequently to avoid being arrested by Russian authorities.
Eventually, Curie went on to earn a degree in mathematics and a master’ s degree in physics. Today several educational institutions are named after her. Amazing, considering she was originally denied access to formal higher education.
UNITED STATES:
According to the U. S. Census Bureau, in 1967 just 8 percent of women 25 years and older held a bachelor’ s degree or higher. This was compared to 13 percent of men from the same demographic. Since that time, the gap has shrunk significantly. In fact, in 2015 women and men were neck and neck, with men at 32 percent and women at 33 percent.
FALL 2016 JOURNEY OF HOPE | 17