On mathematics education for women in Russia prior to 1917

Abstract

This paper attempts to describe women’s mathematics education in certain types of educational institutions in Russia before 1917. The history of women’s education (inclusive of the humanities) begins effectively in the eighteenth century. This education was inevitably limited, since the role assigned to women did not imply any special study of mathematics – mathematics was needed primarily for maintaining the household. To be sure, to this was also added the problem of intellectual development, which sometimes led to girls being taught geometry, and even algebra, although this did not happen often. At the same time, women’s mathematical talents could be valued quite highly. Gradually, the situation changed, and already in the twentieth century the opinion that women’s mathematics education should not differ from men’s was very widely expressed. This paper analyzes various views expressed in surviving documents, as well as textbooks written for girls, and memoirs that make it possible to imagine to a certain degree how exactly the teaching of mathematics at women’s educational institutions was implemented and perceived.