WOMEN, EDUCATION or. Anion Oriental nations generally little or no attention is paid to the education of women. The Chinese women of the wealthier classes may receive some literary train ing. but it is given privately. intellectual ability and learning in women are esteemed, but not vont moldy striven for. In India, oil the contrary, ex cepting among the l'arsis (q.v.), it is thought improper for any except the dancing women to be able to read and write. In general, we hind no regular provision for literary edtwition of females until we come to the Occident. The Spartans provided physical exercise for girls in public gymnasiums similar to those pre scribed for boys. The Athenian girls received no education outside of the home. The ideal W01111111 was the prudent housewife. In the age of Pericles we find a. group of women of literary culture ap They were the so-called lietera. (q.v.) and were typified by Aspasia. As they here not wives and loathers, their ideas of instruc tion for women cannot be so id to have pre vailed at Athens. At no time did the schools of Athens provide for female education. Plato, N1'110 Si W 110 essential difference between the natures of man and woman, planned the same education for both sexes in his ideal republic. At Rome, however, the education of women was mostly carried on at home or under private tutors. In some cases girls attended the bidus or primary schools, but the higher schools were exclusively 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 women 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 Volksschule 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 Minster in 1530. To-day ill 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 began to exist in Germany at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1872
the German Association for the nigher Educa tion of Women came into existence. All teach ing positions in secondary schools were in 1894 thrown open to women. In 1893 a gymnasium for girls was in Karlsruhe, duplicat ing the instruction given in gymnasiums for boys. In 1896 there were in Prussia 116 advanced ele mentary schools. and 856 middle schools for girls.
The small amount of education given to most girls in France in the seventeenth century is shown in Filnelon's treatise De 1Yduration dcs lilies. 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 1SSO lye6es for girls were decreed, and higher nmina Is were soon established to prepare women to teach in them. A great number of secondary schools for girls sprang into existence, and in 1899 there were 20 lye6es, 23 communal colleges, and 69 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 schools has increased the 'facilities for the education of poor girls. In these both women and men were employed as teachers. 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' Public Day School Company. In 1900 this society conducted 30 schools for secondary instruction.
In the English colonies ill America no pro vision was made for the secondary education of women outside the Nonce. Girls were given in struction in elementary schools and women often taught them. In the nineteenth century, however, in the Cnited States, the opportunities for female rapidly developed until to day the State schools provide equally well for both sexes. The first girls' high school was es tablished in 1S26. It failed, but •was reestab lished in 1852. 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 EDUCATION FOR WOMEN and COEDUCATION. See also NATIONAL EDUCA TION, SYSTEMS OF. Consult: Thomas, "Education of ‘Vomen," in Butler, Education in the United States (Albany, 1900) ; Lange, Higher Educa tion of Women (New York, 1898) ; Brenner, Education of ({iris and Women (London, 1897).; Reports of United States Commissioner of Educa tion ( 1894-95).