Research On The Development Of Women’s Education In Germany During The Period Of Industrialization

During the pre-industrialization period, influenced by traditional social concept of "men should earn money for the family outside, while women ought to finish the housework within the family", the issue of women’s education in Germany did not get enough attention for a long time; while along with the advancement of industrialization, the German woman education began to get comprehensive development due to the influence of a series of factors. This article studies the development of German women’s education in the period of industrialization through several aspects including the development of the primary and secondary education, the special senior girls’ schools, women’s vocational education and the process of women entering universities, then analyzes the driving factors of the development of the German women’s education during this period.The first chapter reviews the development of women’s education of the pre-industrial period in Germany. In the middle ages, the church controlled education, and the contents of the education were almost religious texts. In the period of Renaissance and religious reform, the secular education developed gradually, and at the same time, education groups aimed at developing female moral and housework ability began to arise. Besides, religious reformers represented by Martin Luther advocated woman to accept the basic cultural education in order to read the Bible. Although the German women’s education developed to some extent before the early stage of the enlightenment, class differentiation and gender differences were still obviously existed.The second chapter analyzes the development of women’s education in Germany during the period of industrialization comprehensively and particularly. In the process of industrialization, it gradually realized that elementary education is universally accessed by pupils in Germany, and the female secondary education developed slowly. While as new things, senior girls’schools which were set up for females developed relatively fast with a series of adapting reforms in the later. With the development of industrialization, more and more women start to work and all kinds of women’s vocational education developed for the demands of professional development. Finally, it was relatively late that the higher education opened to females in Germany, and the door of the universities just opened slowly to women after a series of efforts such as attending courses as auditor and reforming the curriculums for a long time.The third chapter analyzes the factors that the German female education got all-round developments during the period of industrialization. Firstly, with the progress of industrialization, the traditional concepts of females changed gradually in the society. Secondly, the feminists also called for better education and work opportunities for women with great passions. What’s more, in order to adapt for the demands of jobs, females themselves also pursued a better education actively. All of these factors promoted the development of women’s education jointly.In the end, the epilogue part reflects the historical influence of the development of women’s education during this period. On the one hand, for social development, the comprehensive promotion of women’s education helped to bring up a batch of female labor forces for the needs of industrialization, which promoted further development of industrialization greatly. On the other hand, for females themselves, the development of women’s education was not only beneficial to the improvement of women’s family and social status, but also conducive to the realization of their values.However, the issue of women’s education is not only related to the research topics of culture and education, but also more related to the historic legacy of gender equality. And how to solve these problems fundamentally deserves further thinking and exploration.