Education is an important factor in an individual's ability to be successful. Throughout history, males have had more educational opportunities than females have had. This has resulted in males having more advantages in the job market as well as in society as a whole. In recent times, women have made a great deal of progress in the area of education. Despite this, women continue to be limited in their opportunities for obtaining a high-quality education. The education of women is thus a vital issue among feminists in the present day. This paper will discuss the development of education for women and will consider the role that education plays in the feminist movement.
Throughout history, women have been denied the same educational rights as those that are granted to men. This is related to the traditional patriarchal view that men are meant to control the public sphere while women are limited to roles in the domestic sphere (Hunter College 332). According to this perspective, women simply do not need to have the kind of education that men receive. Prior to modern times, there were only a few exceptions to this rule. Certain prominent women, such as Queen Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici, were "well-educated humanist scholars" (Hunter College 308). However, girls and women were not allowed to attend the schools and colleges that were open to males. This situation continued to exist in colonial America during the seventeenth century and eighteenth century. Girls received only a minimum amount of education at the time. They were taught only the most basic reading and writing skills (Collins 60).
Following the American Revolutionary War, there were growing demands for gender equality in education as well as in other areas of life. During the nineteenth century, the public elementary and secondary schools began to teach girls along with boys. There was also a gradual trend toward allowing women to receive a college-...