A History of the Girl : Formation, Education and Identity

This book is centered on the history of the girl from the medieval period through to the early twenty-first century. Authored by an international team of scholars, the volume explores the transition from adolescent girlhood to young womanhood, the formation and education of girls in the home and in school, and paid work undertaken by girls in different parts of the world and at different times. It highlights the value of a comparative approach to the history of the girl, as the contributors point to shared attitudes to girlhood and the similarity of the experiences of girls in workplaces across the world. Contributions to the volume also emphasise the central role of girls in the global economy, from their participation in the textile industry in the eighteenth century, through to the migration of girls to urban centres in twentieth-century Africa and China. Contents 5 Notes on Contributors 7 List of Figures 11 List of Tables 12 Chapter 1: Introduction 13 Bibliography 22 Chapter 2: Girls at Work in the Middle Ages 24 Apprenticeship 25 Girls in Artistic Workshops 27 Literary Evidence 29 Visual Sources 33 Conclusion 37 Bibliography 40 Unpublished Archival Sources 40 Lyon Municipal Library 40 Bibliothèque Nationale de France 40 Printed Sources 40 Secondary Sources 41 Chapter 3: From ‘Young Women’ to ‘Female Adolescents’: Dutch Advice Literature during the Long Nineteenth Century 43 Introduction 43 Enlightenment Stirrings 46 Nineteenth-Century Developments 50 Fin-de-Siècle Approaches 53 Conclusion 57 Bibliography 60 Contemporary Printed Sources 60 Secondary Sources 61 Chapter 4: Adolescent Girlhood in Eighteenth-Century Ireland 63 Preadolescent Girlhood 64 The Teenage Years 68 Young Adulthood 74 Conclusion 78 Bibliography 82 Unpublished Archival Sources 82 National Library of Ireland 82 Printed Sources 82 Contemporary Printed Sources 82 Secondary Sources 82 Chapter 5: Young Women, Textile Labour, and Marriage in Europe and China around 1800 84 Introduction 84 Family, Household, and Textile Production and ‘the Great Divergence’ 85 Girls’ Work in Household Production Systems 87 Europe’s ‘Protoindustrial’ Textile Industries in Regional and Global Markets 87 Gender and Generational Division of Labour in Household Textile Production in Europe 89 Gender and Generational Division of Labour in Household Textile Production in China 91 Girls’ Work in Non-domestic Production Settings 95 Girls’ Textile Work in Non-domestic Production in Europe 95 Girls’ Textile Work in Nondomestic Production in China 98 Conclusion and Questions 100 Bibliography 107 Unpublished Archival Sources 107 Archives Départementales de Vaucluse (ADV) 107 Württemberg Staatsarchiv 107 Contemporary Printed Sources 107 Secondary Sources 108 Chapter 6: The Education of European and Chinese Girls at Home in the Nineteenth Century 112 Introduction 112 Educating German Girls at Home 113 Educating Chinese Girls at Home 116 Shared Aims and Values 119 Talent Versus Virtue 119 Family Relations 121 Exemplary Lives 123 Conclusion 125 Bibliography 128 Unpublished Archival Sources 128 Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, Emmendingen 128 Familiennachlass Schmidt. Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart 128 Contemporary Printed Sources 129 Secondary Sources 130 Chapter 7: ‘[T]he Children Bobbed Like Corks on the Tide of Adult Life’: The Political Education of the Pankhurst Girls in Late Victorian England 132 Bibliography 149 Unpublished Archival Sources 149 National Library of Australia, Canberra 149 June Purvis Private Collection 150 Contemporary Printed Sources 150 Secondary Sources 150 Chapter 8: Girls as Members of an Educated Elite: The Bulgarian Case, c. 1850–1950 152 Introduction 152 The Evolution of an Educated Female Elite: Three Case Studies 154 Graduates of the Girls’ High Schools: The First Girls’ Gymnasium of Sofia 154 Graduates of Secondary Vocational Schools: The Princess Maria Louise Vocational School in Sofia 157 Graduates of Foreign Girls’ Colleges: The American Girls’ College of Constantinople 159 Conclusion 161 Bibliography 166 Unpublished Archival Sources 166 Bulgarian Historical Archive, Sofia 166 Central State Archive, Sofia 166 State Archive, Sofia 166 Contemporary Printed Sources 166 Secondary Sources 167 Chapter 9: Did the Bengali Woman Have a Girlhood? A Study of Colonialism, Education, and the Evolution of the Girl Child in Nineteenth-Century Bengal 171 Debating the Content of Girls’ Education 176 Settling the Question of Content Through Public Opinion 178 Curriculum for Vernacular Girls’ Schools 179 Conclusion 181 Bibliography 185 Primary Sources 185 National Archives, Bangladesh 185 Printed Sources 185 Secondary Sources 186 Chapter 10: The ‘Social Processing Chamber’ of Gender: Australian Second-Wave Feminist Perspectives on Girls’ Socialisation 187 Toward an Australian Theory of Sex-Role Socialisation 189 Self-examination: The Role of Personal Testimony 193 Researching Girlhood: Sex Roles and Social Realities 196 Conclusion 200 Bibliography 206 Unpublished Archival Sources 206 State Library of New South Wales 206 Contemporary Printed Sources 206 Secondary Sources 207 Chapter 11: ‘And Sweet Girl-Graduates’? From Girl to Woman Through Higher Education 209 The Beginnings of Girls’ Higher Education in the West 211 A New Stage of Life? 213 Medical Education 214 A Story of Progress? 214 Islam and the Education of Girls 215 Women Holding Up Half the Sky? 219 Educating Girls in the Twenty-First Century 220 Gender Anxiety 221 Sweet Girl Graduates? 225 Bibliography 229 Secondary Sources 229 Chapter 12: The ‘Girl-Hawking War’ in Colonial Lagos 232 Conclusion 239 Bibliography 242 Primary Sources 242 National Archives, Ibadan 242 Printed Contemporary Sources 242 Secondary Sources 243 Chapter 13: Biopolitics of Dai Girls: Work, Marriage, and a Desirable Lifestyle 244 Biopolitics: Mobility as a Response to Global Neoliberalism and a Demand for Social Justice 245 A Farming Way of Life in the Eyes of the Villagers: Formation of Class and Powerlessness 247 An Introduction to Ruili: Location and Population 247 Villagers’ Livelihoods: Hardworking Farmers with Low Incomes 248 Vulnerability to Drug Abuse and AIDS 249 Miserable Farming, Attractive City 250 Human Capital and Biopolitics among Dai Girls: Desire, Mobility, and Marriage 250 Inequality in the Geographical Distribution of Educational Resources 250 Dai Girls Working Out of the Village: Two Perspectives 253 The Parents’ Perspective 253 The Girls’ Perspective 254 Commodified Marriage: Another Aspect of the Biopolitics of Dai Girls 255 Conclusion 258 Bibliography 260 Index 262 "This book is centered on the history of the girl from the medieval period through to the early twenty-first century. Authored by an international team of scholars, the volume explores the transition from adolescent girlhood to young womanhood, the formation and education of girls in the home and in school, and paid work undertaken by girls in different parts of the world and at different times. It highlights the value of a comparative approach to the history of the girl, as the contributors point to shared attitudes to girlhood and the similarity of the experiences of girls in workplaces across the world. Contributions to the volume also emphasize the central role of girls in the global economy, from their participation in the textile industry in the eighteenth century, through to the migration of girls to urban centres in twentieth-century Africa and China."--Back cover