In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries education was made available to only extremely wealthy women; although the best forms of education, like university, were only offered to men. The enlightenment, an intellectual movement, expressed the importance of education in terms of moral development and for the overall benefit of society. The enlightenment allowed education to be made available to middle class women but the quality was still lacking. Instead of being offered a classical education, education for women primarily consisted of music, singing, painting etc.
Women during the eighteenth century were desired to be chaste and virturous, and their placement within society was primarily in the home. Many powerful men opposed the education of women as they believed that education would corrupt their minds.With this being said however, there were some improvments with regards to education during the eighteenth century.
Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century feminist who argued that women were not naturally borned to be inferior to men. She argued that the lack of a proper education was the cause of women being seen as inferior. She believed that educated women would become better wives and mothers, and would therefore better benefit society. Her published works entitled Thoughts on the Education of Daughters and Vindication of the Rights of Women advocted the importance of educating women, and criticized the type of education that was offered at the time such as embroidery and music (Barney). Unfortunately, Wollstonecraft focused primarily on the education of middle-class women, and those of the lower class were not offered many educational opportunities (Richardson).
Literacy had improved for women during this period. Women of the middle and upper classes were offered chances of a limited education; and although they were not taught classical subjects, they were taught how to read and to write. The percentage of women who were able to sign their names rose to from 30 percent to 40 percent in 1750. Women of the lower-class were either self taught, or not taught at all. Their primary focus was to take care of their husbands, children and the house ( Richardson ).
