The Origin And Development Of British Higher Education Of Women Between 1848 And 1948

In Britain, the 19th century was a reform age during which great changes took place. Under the influence of Industrial Revolution, Parliament Reform and toleration of religion, British women began to seek their equal rights in education. In 1848, the foundation of the first independent ladies' college—Queen's College signified a new model of educational development of women and a new direction. Later, a series of ladies' colleges sprung up. Among them, Bedford College, North London Collegiate College and Cheltenham Ladies' College were typical. However, during this period, ladies' colleges were very different from traditional colleges and universities in teaching, management and so on. British women didn't enter into the field of higher education until the foundation of Girton College and Newnham College. Their equal rights were not obtained untill the Cambridge University granted degrees to women formally in 1948. It was not only by women's own efforts but also by many dynamic forces that British women finally got their goal.The paper is divided into three chapters. The first chapter reviews the background of British women's education. Section one mainly introduces the ideas of Mary Wollstonecraft and John Stuart Mill on women's education. Section two expounds the awakening of women under the background of Industrial Revolution. They began to leave their homes to forge themselves in society, and actively sought their rights and freedom. Section three describes the changes of British education in early 19th century, including government intervention in the education and the rise of new universities.Chapter two introduces the first stage of higher education of British women—the foundation of ladies' colleges. Section one mainly describes educational philosophy, curriculum, teacher recruitment, teaching methods, management of Queen's College. Section two introduces Bedford College and tells the differences from Queen's College. Section three discusses the development of ladies' college, for example, North London College and Cheltenham College, which not only carried on the tradition of Queen's College, but also made some innovations, such as the wider scope of class enrollment and hierarchical teaching. However, these independent colleges were not genuine colleges and universities. So they were still trying to change the secondary education of women into higher education.Chapter three discusses British women's achievement of equal education rights. Section one focuses on the foundation of Girton College. Emily Davies tried to make girl students participate in the degree examinations at Cambridge University and obtain degrees. Section two discusses the foundation of Newnham College. Section three deals with women's struggle between 1889 and 1948 and explains the reason why Cambridge University, which had opened university courses to women to support female education was reluctant to accept women as members and grant degrees to them.The last part is the conclusion. The emphasis is laid on the reasons of the development of women's higher education. The internal factor was that women persisted in their efforts. And there were two external factors, one was the intervention of the government in education, and the other was the support of many forces. So we can conclude that the development of higher education of British women is the result of both internal and external causes, which not only promotes women's development in the future, but also encourages the advancement of the society.