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Educating New Mothers: Women and the Enlightenment in Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Carol S. Nash
Carol S. Nash*
Affiliation:
Bronx High School of Science, New York City
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Extract

“We do not want them to be prudes or coquettes, but amiable and able to raise their children and take care of their homes.”

Letter of Catherine II to Voltaire, n.d.

“They will be good Russian wives, caring mothers, and zealous homemakers.”

St. Petersburg Gazette, no. 45, 1773

“…The intention and end of the education of girls [is] to make them good homemakers, faithful wives, and trustworthy mothers, …”

Arrangement of studies in the Society of noble and common girls in accordance with the public schools of Russia, issued by the Commission on Public Schools, 1783

In Russia during the era of Catherine II (1762–1796), women's education was advocated as a means to reform family, social and civic life. Fénelon's Traité de l'éducation des Filles (1686) and his didactic novel, Les Aventures de Télémaque, carried this argument to Russia where it was reinforced by the ideas of the Enlightenment. In a society with substantial prejudice against mere literacy for women, this position represents a progressive call for expanded educational opportunities for girls. The message was interpreted in this fashion by its European and Russian proponents who presumed that they were acting in accordance with reason and nature. But the restraints inherent in this domestic orientation make it as much a campaign against excessive emancipation as a plea to remove women from complete ignorance. In this essay, I explore this limited advocacy from the Russian perspective. This ambivalence is demonstrable throughout the reign of Catherine II and at different social levels, though most attention was focused on the nobility for whom the Society for the Education of Noble Girls (the Smol'nyi Institute) was founded.

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Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , Fall 1981 , pp. 301 - 316
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Copyright © 1981 by History of Education Society 

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References

Notes

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48. For illustrations of hostility toward female education during Catherine's reign, see my dissertation, pp. 11–27; for Betskoi as a carrier of western attitudes, see Ibid., pp. 114–19.Google Scholar

49. Betskoi, , “Foundling Home,” pt. 3, p. 310. Betskoi recalls here the original statement of this intention in the first part of the statute, “Foundling Home,” pt. 1, pp. 347–52. However, the foundling homes never came close to realizing Betskoi's objectives.Google Scholar

50. Betskoi, , “Education of noble girls,” ch. 1, pt. 6, nos. 16–19.Google Scholar

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