Educating the scientific housewife: the conceptualisation of housework in English girls’ day schools, 1870–1914

Abstract

As educational opportunities for women and girls expanded in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, science and domestic subjects were increasingly linked. This article draws upon research from the history of education and women’s history to examine how schools contributed to contemporary constructions of housework. It takes two case studies: the North London Collegiate School and Manchester High School for Girls. Both were new day schools for the daughters of the professional middle classes and faced the challenge of designing an appropriate course of study for future ladies. This article argues that these schools drew on the perceived relationship between science and domestic subjects to form their own conceptualisation of housework as an intellectual activity. Practical work in science and domestic subjects was central to this representation, as the schools acknowledged the realities of running a middle-class household. This conceptualisation of practical, intellectual housework aligned with the interests of female students and staff.