Education and the Emancipation of Jewish Girls in the Nineteenth Century: The Case of the Netherlands

Overview & Synopsis

In the Netherlands, the first girl admitted to a qualifying secondary education and the first female university student were sisters, Frederika and Aletta Jacobs, after the father and Aletta had made successful requests. In each case, the admission brought an end to a long-standing male privilege. And in each case contemporaries conceived of these ambitious girls as exceptional and therefore raised hardly any objections. In reality, however, the arrival of the Jacobs sisters initiated what amounted to a revolution in girls' education, as Dutch girls and women began to follow their examples in unexpected numbers. This article considers the history of the education of Jewish girls in the nineteenth century. The authors focus primarily on the Dutch case and on developments prior to or immediately following the Jacobs's requests. The authors first summarize the Dutch debate on girls and secondary schooling around 1870. The authors then briefly sketch the history of Jewish secular and religious education during the nineteenth century. Their third focus is on Jewish girls' education and on the Jewish community's attitude towards women's study. And finally, they evaluate the comparative weights of the Jewish tradition and of enlightened liberalism in encouraging Doctor Jacobs and his daughters to initiate this revolution in girls' education. (Contains 84 footnotes.)