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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.
List of contents
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Schools for Girls
Chapter 2: The Moravian School for Girls in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
Chapter 3: Schools for Davit Girls in Pune, India
Chapter 4: Secondary Schooling for Girls in Norwich, UK
Chapter 5: A School for Straits Chinese Girls, Singapore
Chapter 6: Gayaza High School for Girls, Uganda, East Africa
Chapter 7: The First School for Muslim Girls, Baku, Azerbaijan
Chapter 8: Entrepreneurship and Advocacy: Themes Across Time and Space
Chapter 9: The Present: Advocates and Entrepreneurs for Girl's Education
Bibliography
About the Author
About the author
Jill Sperandio is professor of education at Lehigh University
