Pioneering Education for Girls across the Globe: Advocates and Entrepreneurs, 1742-1910

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The mid-18th to the early 20th century saw growing interest in the education of girls from all social classes in all regions of the world. During this time period of expanding empires and international travel, pioneering girls schools were established by educational entrepreneurs, predominantly men, supported by dedicated women school administrators and teachers who ensured the smooth operation of the schools and well-being of the girls attending them. The schools preceded national and local interest in educating girls, and frequently encountered resistance from the communities they sought to serve for the challenge and potential disruption they threatened to the existing gendered social order. The author examines six of these pioneering girls schools drawing her case studies from Britain, Colonial America, Singapore, India, Azerbaijan and Uganda. Placing each school in its geographical and historical setting, she analyses the driving forces that led their founders to undertake the oft-difficult task of funding and promoting the schools. Beliefs and gendered stereotypes regarding the roles of women in society posed further difficulties as did the conflicting educational ideologies, quality and attainment expectations to be negotiated in developing curriculum for the schools. On the global level, the school case studies illustrate how imperial expansion, and oft-accompanying religious missionary activity, exposed previously isolated communities in very diverse environments and social contexts to new ideas and influences creating tensions between desires for change and modernization and fears of loss of ethnic community. The author concludes by considering the ongoing importance of local agency, activism and social entrepreneurship in creating awareness of the need for quality education for girls in many parts of the world today.

Reviews

This book purposefully and passionately examines the quest for the effective education of girls in different locations across the globe. Dr. Sperandio brilliantly captures the struggles, strife, and successes in the endeavor toward equal educational opportunities across time and geographical location. The themes of entrepreneurship, advocacy, and agency are guideposts to all of us who are concerned about truly equitable schools for all students. -- Dr. Floyd D. Beachum, Program Coordinator for Educational Leadership, Bennett Professor of Urban School Leadership, College of Education, Lehigh University
Jill Sperandios book provides a fascinating and inspiring account of the irrepressible role that girls education plays in the intersection of entrepreneurship and equality. Educating girls and the innovation that educated girls bring to their communities both large and small has often been a highly risky venture due to cultural, political, and social restrictions placed on women and girls worldwide. Sperandio recognizes and examines the risk and innovation associated with girls education to life in her study of six schools across time and space. More well-researched and equally fascinating work like this is needed in the field of comparative and international education broadly speaking! -- Alexander W. Wiseman, Texas Tech University
According to UNESCO (2016) 15 million girls of primary school age will never enter a classroom. So, Jill Sperandios research into advocates and entrepreneurs in girls education, that spans geography and time, has resonance for educators and educationists today. Themes cross time and space such as expanding empires, the modernizing of societies, domestic ideology, and social and religious responsibility. But there is resonance today between the differences such as the reassessment of womens status, their rights to an education and their role in families and communities. In her final chapter, Jill Sperandio reminds readers of the philanthropy of Safeena Husain, Oprah Winfrey, Melinda Gates and the ongoing advocacy for girls education by Malala Yousafzai. This book is a must read for everyone with an interest in the education of girls and women. -- Kay Fuller, University of Nottingham

Author Bio

Jill Sperandio is professor of education at Lehigh University