Dievčenské vzdelávanie v Uhorsku
Education of Girls in Hungary

Author(s): Ewa Kowalská
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Education, Modern Age, Culture and social structure , History of Education, 18th Century
Published by: Historický ústav SAV
Keywords: Hungary; women; girls; education; 18th century; literacy;
Summary/Abstract: The paper is based on the analysis of the state of girls education in Hungary in the 18th century. Different gender roles and cultural consequences of diverse confessional development resulted in different perception of the role of girls education. As long as her husband or some other legal personal representative accompanied a woman, she was in no need to prove her identity in writing and therefore literacy as one of the basic elements of formal education can not be taken for granted. Though the social importance of literacy was rapidly increasing among aristocracy, this development lagged behind in case of girls and women and was almost non-existent among the lower classes. The change was brought in with the efforts for intellectual and social revival that resulted in creation of Jansenism and Pietism movements. Also, a complex of state governed reforms contributed to the amendment of the situation. It promoted a new understanding of the role of girls education that led to foundation of specialised schools and institutes. The paper looks at their curricula and points out the structural change in education that took place on the break of the 19th century.

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