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Different Types of Schools Open to Women

Women learned in a variety of atmospheres, some more influential and beneficial than others, but any type of education was usually an advantage. If in the appropriate class level, the home was the oasis for a girl�s education: �Only rigorous home schooling could produce women as well educated as boys who attended preparatory school.�1 Women were not welcomed into the public sphere of work or the formal, standardized educational system, beyond the basics of ABC school. Whether being taught by their mothers, or if they could afford it, private tutors, women were able to expand their knowledge via literacy and if economically privileged, a more formal education. Of course this is all dependent on the money that their parents were able to provide and there were other options for the upper class that were not afforded to women of lower status.
The convent was a very popular, and socially deemed appropriate, location for women to receive an education. There was the issue of costs however being that �only the very wealthy could afford to send their daughters to live at convent schools, which cost fabulous sums.�2 The convent became the suitable place for women to become moderately educated in religious matters, to either serve as preparation for a husband, or if dowry issues or a lack of husband occurred, keep them there to stay on and become nuns.

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At the other end of the religious scale were the charity schools that aimed to help poor boys (and girls) that offered a limited amount of education, but the chance at gaining any access to some form of literacy could prove valuable.
Women that could afford it also had the option of a secular boarding school, usually designated to women of the merchant, middling sort. The goal here, since she could not devote herself to God, was to become an eligible, suitable woman that could marry into or above her class, with a focus on �grooming, comportment and fine arts,� which would later in the century come under question as a �superficial education.�3 London�s first boarding school opened in 1617, and schools in the suburbs of Hackney, Putney and Chelsea, despite educational quality questions were highly renowned and from �the vogue,� boarding schools popularity expanded outward to Manchester, Exeter, Oxford and Leicester.4 In the end, the schools managed to aid greatly in the boost in literacy rates and education for women.
Lastly there were the elementary schools that at best were able to teach basic reading skills and at worst, not make much of a difference at all. Since classes revolved around �seasonal rhythms� there was never a regular calendar to follow and attendance was erratic for all and less frequent for girls.5 Yet for a lot of girls, this was the only affordable option to gain any type of education or level of literacy. Usually the basics were taught via catechism but most of these girls got the more valuable training appropriate to their class at home in regards to domestic duties versus any type of academic knowledge.

1 Natalie Zemon Davis, Arlette Farge. A History of Women in the West. Vol. 3. (London: Belknap Press, 1993). 122.
2 Zemon and Farge, 114.
3 Zemon and Farge, 116.
4 Zemon and Farge, 116.
5 R.A. Houston. Literacy in Early Modern Europe. (Harlow, England: Longman, 2002). 13.

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