Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/731

* WOMEN. 623 WOMEN IN INDUSTRY. improper for any exccjil, (he dancinj:; women to bo able to read and write. In ficnoral, we lind no regular |irovision lor literary edueation of females until we eome to the Occident. The Spartans jirovided physical exercise for girls in public gynniasiunis similar to those pre- scribed for boys. The Athenian girls received no education outside of the home. The ideal woman was the prudent housewife. In the age of Pericles we lind a gronp of women of literary culture ap- pearing. They were the so-called heta'rie (q.v.) and were typilied by Aspasia. As they were not wives and mothers, their ideas of instruc- tion for women cannot be said to have pre- vailed at Athens. At no time did the schools of Athens provide for female education. Plato, who saw no essential difference between the natures of man and woman, planned the same education for both se.xes in his ideal I'cpublic. At Eome, however, the education of women was mostly carried on at home or under private tutors. In some cases girls attended the Indus or primary schools, but the higher schools were e.xclusively for boys. The Christian conception of education as a preparation for the future life implied the neces- sity of education for women as well as for men. Saint .Jerome advocated the ascetic idea of female education and advised women to learn to read the Scriptures. The sister of Saint Benedict, called Sister Scholasticus, established a conventual order that paid much attention to education. The Renaissance gave a decided impulse to ■women's education. Polite learning became a social accomplishment, and as desirable in women as in men. There was. however, no extensive movement for the establishment of schools for girls. Women were taught by many of the lead- ing masters of the period, and there were many notable Avomen teachers — some even occupying chairs in the universities of Italy and Spain. Luther urged the elementary education of both girls and boys, and advised the employment in such schools of women as teachers. The Ger- man ]'olK-KSclii(le adopted the first of these ideas, but it was not until the nineteenth century that women were employed to any extent in teaching. A seminary for training women to teach was established at Miinster in 1830. To-day in Ger- many about ten per cent, of the normal schools are for women, and a still Larger proportion of the elementary teachers are of that sex. Higher schools for girls Iiegan to exist in Germany at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1872 the German Association for the Higlier Educa- tion of Women came into existence. All teach- ing positions in secondary schools were in 1894 thrown open to women. In 1S9.3 a g3nnnasiuni for girls was established in Karlsruhe, duplicat- ing the instruction given in gynniasiunis for boys. In 1806 there were in Prussia 116 advanced ele- mentary schools, and 8.56 middle schools for girls. The small amount of education given to most girls in France in the seventeenth century is shown in Fenelon's treatise De Vcducatioti dcs fiUcs. He advocates literary and his- torical studies for women. Very little progress was made toward establishing girls' schools be- fore the nineteenth century. Since 1833 the French have aimed to give public elementary in- struction to both boys and girls. Indeed, national elementary education everywhere in Europe is for both sexes. In 1880 lyctes for girls were decreed, and higher normals were Moon established to i)rcpare women to teach in them. A great number of secondary schools for girls sprang into exi.-^tence, and in 18!)!) there were 20 lycfies, 23 conununal colleges, and U'j secondary courses maintained by the State for the education of girls. In England before the nineteenth century girls were educated by tutors or in .small private schools, most of which were of an inferior char- acter. The development of the elementary scliools has increased the facilities for the education of poor girls. In these scliools both women and men were employed as teacliers. In 1871 a Na- tional Union for Improving the Education of Women of All Classes was formed. It led to the formation in 1872 of the Girls' Puldic Day School Company. In 1000 this society conducted 30 schools for secondary instruction. In the English colonies in America no pro- vision was made for the secondary education of women outside the liome. Ciirls were given in- struction in elementary schools and women often taught them. In the nineteenth century, however, in the United States, the opportunities for female education rapidly developed until to- day the State schools provide equally well for both sexes. The first girls' high school was es- tablished in 1826. It failed, but -was reestab- lished in 18.52. In the early part of the century an important movement for the establishment of girls' seminaries sprang up. For the higher education of women, consult the articles on Collegiate Ei)Uc.tio. for Women and Coeducation. See also National Educa- tion, SY.STEMS OF. Consult : Thomas, "Education of Women," in Butler, Education in the United States (Albany, 1900) ; Lange, Higher Educa- tion of Women (New York, 1808) ; Brenner, Education of Girls and Women (London, 1897)-; Reports of United States Commissioner of Educa- tion (1894-9.5). WOMEN IN INDUSTRY. In primitive so- ciety men were lishers. fighters, hunters, while women fashioned the hut, gathered and stored the seeds, roots, and fruits, tamed .young animals, prepared the meat and skins from the animals slain by men, and made garments and utensils. When the pastoral stage followed immediately on the hunting stage, women's former varied activi- ties were narrowed until oYily certain duties — those of indoor life and preparing products for home use — remained. Woman was looked upon as the rearer of children, the minister to men's comfort and pleasure, and the producer of do- mestic necessities, and ' was made economically dependent. It is of special interest that among savage tribes where women were as efficient food producers as men they held respected positions. Woman's work through historic' times has, how- ever, been dejiendent upon the class to which she belonged. The principal w-ives of chiefs were the first to be relieved of all labor. The middle class show more clearly the changes of the cen- turies. In the lowest class even in the twentieth century, among barbarians as well as among Eu- ropean peasants, women undertake liea^-y manual labor. As long as a large portion of necessary articles were made by men in the homes or on a small scale, women supplemented household duties by aiding in weaving, sewing, and dairy- ing. The factory system and the improvements