Education for a new age: Citizenship, professionalism, and the radical agenda for Chinese women, 1898-1911

The concept of women as citizens took shape in the critical years of nation building in China between 1898 and 1921. The movements for education and constitutional reform contributed to growing civic and political consciousness that focused attention on issues of citizenship and the role of women in the political and economic life of Chinese society. This study examines the overlapping issues of women's citizenship, education, professionalism and activism, and analyzes strategies used to define the identity and place of women in an era of reform and revolution.; Education through formal instruction became the vehicle for women to secure the intellectual substance and professional skills to enter the public sphere. As informal indoctrination, education provided tutelage in self-identity and activism. A vigorous modern press provided the forum for debate and advocacy in which women joined. Through the new literature and periodicals written by and about women, they developed an image for themselves that was suffused with nationalism and inspired by Western models. Economic self-sufficiency and civic activism assisted the transformation of women into citizens dedicated to the public welfare of a civil society they were helping to create. The new republic did not grant women the suffrage they believed they had earned, but the lessons gained from participatory citizenship leavened the women's movement in the May Fourth era.