Coinciding with the beginnings of the first wave of feminism in the 19th century came the attempt by women to gain equal rights to education in the United States. Women's rights organizations focused on adjusting and increasing women's place in the public arena by arguing that the only fundamental differences between women and men were socially created ones, and thus women should be offered the same extensive and practical education that was offered to men.
After long battles against gender oppression women finally obtained the right to be educated through several government acts/conventions, the opening of facilities willing to educate them, and the opportunity to continue into higher education.
Education was a controversial topic in the 1930s, and sex-segregated school systems protected “the virtue of female high school students.” Home economics and industrial education were new elements of the high school curriculum designed for unmistakably women's occupations. These classes taught women practical skills such as sewing, cooking, and using the new domestic inventions of the era; unfortunately, this “formal training offered women little advantage in the struggle for stable work at a liveable wage.”
The 1930s also saw tremendous changes in women’s education at the college level. In 1900, there were 85,338 female college students in the United States and 5,237 earned their bachelor's degrees; by 1940, there were 600,953 female college students and 77,000 earned bachelor's degrees. This increase was partially explained by the “contemporary discourse that reinforced the need for higher education for women in their positions as wives, mothers, citizens, and professionals.”
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Members of the “Greenwich Village Follies” learning to become good cooks and bakers at the Mary Ryan Tea Room in Greenwich Village, New York, ca. 1925. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
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Madame Lubovska teaching student dancers from the National American Ballet school, August 1924. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
Lady detectives learning their trade. Mr. Kersey is showing them how to apprehend a suspect, April 1927. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
Students at the Heatherley School of Art in Baker Street, London, painting a nude model in the portrait studio, November 1927. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images) |
A young woman taking flying lessons at Brooklands School, 1929. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
Dancing school pupils practice en plein air at Worthing in East Sussex, May 1933. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
A college student prepares to try out a small glider at the London Gliding Club on Dunstable Downs, 15th April 1933. (Photo by Fred Morley/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
Students at a dance school dancing in front of a large, round mirror, ca. 1935. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
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A group of ladies learning “The Charleston” dance, March 1935. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
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Two female members of a keep fit group learn boxing techniques as part of self defence lessons, 7th December 1935. (Photo by Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
Would-be skiers taking lessons from an Austrian ski champion in the gym, learning that suppleness is essential in skiing, 20th February 1936. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
Trainee nurses examine a model of a human body to learn anatomy, 7th October 1938. (Photo by Gerry Cranham/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
Students at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in Bloomsbury, London, applying make-up backstage, 29th October 1938. (Photo by Felix Man/Picture Post/Getty Images) |
Undergraduates of Oxford University walking to lectures, well equipped with books, 6th November 1938. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
Four students at a Liverpool drama school enjoy a lesson in face-slapping, 4th February 1939. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
Military training has been introduced to the schools in Budapest. Here the pupils of a girl's school are issued with their arms, 4th February 1939. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
French university students dance the jitterbug in Paris, 1949. (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images) |
18-year old London student Mercy Haystead on holiday in Italy as an official guest of the town of Positano, 24th September 1949. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images) |
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Three female students reading a book circa 1950s. (Photo by Keystone View/FPG/Getty Images) |