What is Suitable Education for Girls? Women’s Participation and Statistical Arguments in Sweden’s 1888 Girls’ School Committee

Abstract

This article delves into the historical context of the second girls’ school committee in late-nineteenth-century Sweden, exploring aspects of gendered content and conduct in its formation and operations. Firstly, the study investigates the media representation of the committee’s inclusion of women and how it was framed for the public. Secondly, it examines the committee’s use of statistics in its 1888 report to advocate for a particular type of education for girls, based on notions of their “female nature.” By adopting a feminist approach to historical writing, the article aims to shed light on the committee’s significance in terms of breaking the male-dominated pattern of state decision-making. As a result, this article contributes to the field of gender and history of education by examining the groundbreaking inclusion of women in the girls’ school committee and the utilisation of statistics to shape educational policies in a society grappling with conflicting notions of female nature and women’s expanding roles in education and the workforce.

Keywords

• girls’ schools
• secondary schools
• gender
• statistics
• newspapers
• hygiene