The Education of Women According to Domingo F. Sarmiento and Juana P. Manso: From Sewing and Needlework to Graduate, School (Buenos Aires, 1858-1878)

Abstract

In this research we will analyze the articles written by Domingo F. Sarmiento and Juana P. Manso on women's education in the province of Buenos Aires published in the journals Anales de la Educación Común and La Educación Común during the period 1858- 1878. We seek to show that their interventions focused, on the one hand, on criticizing the policies implemented by the different officials and, on the other hand, on elaborating proposals to improve the schooling situation of girls, which obtained different results. In a national context of high female illiteracy, both accused those responsible of maintaining the girls' schools and the Normal School under the control of a private association that offered an education limited to sewing and embroidery; resisting the abandonment of the Lancasterian system of education which, although in theory it had ceased to exist, persisted in the way the schools were organized; and delaying the creation of graduate schools for women with the higher grades. On the side of the proposals, we will point out how, thanks to these reiterated claims made through the magazines and in their roles as officials at different times, Sarmiento and Manso managed to ensure that the schooling of girls, in general terms, became more and more extensive and of better quality, although problems persisted in other areas.