POLICIES AND SPACES FOR WOMEN IN THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPANISH EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. This article discusses the origins of national education systems, the principles that were guiding its development and the ways decisions affected women’s access to different levels of education. In the case of Spain, the Enlightnment ideals embodied by the 1812 Constitution of Cadiz, the new conception of social relations, political participation and economic progress, were the criteria that helped define what public education should be. METHOD. we have studied the regulations that the various governments of the nineteenth century produced to address educational issues, focusing especially on what was proposed for the education of girls, and on the statistical series that account for the growth rate. RESULTS. The interplay of all these elements shows the inequality with which the principles governing the system were conceived and applied to men and women, in addition to confirming the lesser involvement of government agencies in creating school spaces for girls; consequently, limiting women’s access to literacy and basic culture. Very few were able to enroll in high school and college, a level of education that took a long time in being considered appropriate for women, as it paved the way for professional activities that women were not supposed to exercise. DISCUSSION. The data presented once again lead us to highlight the purpose of separate spheres that responded to the design of educational systems in the nineteenth century. But they can also be used to discover the decisions that were made about the life of women, their individuality gained, their new cultural and social expectations. And to recognize the value of the knowledge always cultivated by women; which has fuelled the growth and well being of each new generation.