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The Educated Woman

The Educated Woman

Contradictory to popular belief, not all educated women were convinced that their gender needed radical changes to the existing order. Most of the literate and intellectual women, including the Bluestockings, supported only a mild change in gender roles, marked mainly by a change in the amount and availability of education. The most important aspects of the gender war to these women was to gain the ability to enter and interact with the public “male” sphere outside the home. The educated woman wanted to be viewed as a credible and intelligent source of information, and an individual capable of attending meetings once reserved solely for men.

One major way to enter the public sphere was to challenge the contemporary concept of authorship – particularly its view as a mostly male/public sphere activity. These literary and educated women believed that small steps were the best route. By engaging in conversation via the written word, these women were able to slowly and purposefully enter the once all-male world of publishing. Becoming involved, even in this mild way, insured that women would eventually be viewed differently than they are in Anna Laetita Barbauld’s poem, “To a Lady…”:

Flowers, the sole luxury which nature knew,
In Eden’s pure and guiltless garden grew.
To loftier forms are rougher tasks assign’d;
The sheltering oak resists the stormy wind,
The tougher yew repels invading foes,
And the tall pine for future navies grows;
But this soft family, to cares unknown,
Were born for pleasure and delight ALONE.
Gay without toil, and lovely without art,
They spring to CHEER the sense, and GLAD the heart.
Not blush, my fair, to own you copy these;
Your BEST, your SWEETEST empire is – TO PLEASE.