Catharine Beecher was born in 1800 to a prominent family during a time in which domesticity was the main responsibility of a woman. Like most women back then, Beecher had only little education. When she was ten years old, she was sent to a private school and taught the limited subjects available to women. Other than this, Beecher educated herself. She later took up the cause of education reform. In the 1800s, there was a growing need for teachers because men were leaving their teaching positions to work in industry and business. Thus, Beecher promoted women as teachers and higher education. In 1821, she became a schoolteacher. Two years later, she also co-founded the Hartford Female Seminary, which taught higher branches of learning and trained women to become mothers and teachers. At first, there were only seven students in the seminary. But within three years, the number grew up to about a hundred. In 1829, Beecher published “Suggestions Regarding Improvements in Education,” an essay discussing the importance of women as teachers. It advocated women as natural teachers and urged the expansion of teacher training programs. In 1841, her most famous work, “A Treatise on Domestic Economy” was published. In this essay, Beecher emphasized importance of domestic work and attempted to systematize domestic work. She also praised feminine virtues and encouraged women to share those virtues through teaching or marriage. However, Beecher contradicted herself by praising the intellectual capabilities of women but campaigning against women’s suffrage. In “Address to Christian Women of America,” she explained how suffrage would cause women to abandon their domestic responsibilities. In the 1830s, Beecher moved to the Midwest to campaign for more schools and teachers. In 1852, she founded American Women’s Educational Association, which recruiting and training new teachers for frontier schools. Beecher continued to work for educational reform until her death in 1878. |
|
