Women vocational education of Right-Bank Ukraine in the XIX – early XX century

Abstract

Using gender approach in history research of vocational education development of Right-Bank Ukraine lower echelon women of XIX – early XX century has allowed to find out that special education for women in the legal field of the Russian Empire developed very slowly. The pedagogical, medical, technical, agricultural, commercial and artistic areas were the main women’s professional activities. Vocational education until 1861 was due to the estate organization of society for each estate were fixed certain kinds of professional activity and set limits on educational qualifications. However, common to them all was the narrowing of women's eligibility for getting vocational education within each estate. Female labor was used mainly in low-skilled, low-paid and physically grueling kinds of work. The main obstacles of women obtaining professional training were: social gender stereotypes in views on the women appointment, a limited number of special women's educational institutions, expensive cost of training therein and long term of full course. The main determinants of expanding female labor market were: liberation reform of 1861, the implementation of more advanced methods of cultivation, activation of small peasant supply and marketing cooperatives, the rise of new forms of farm management and others. In the early twentieth century on the territory of the Right-Bank Ukraine vocational education of women is already provided: needlework department at primary schools of the Ministry of public education; needlework evening classes at the urban two-year colleges; needlework lessons in all primary and secondary educational female institutions.