<doc.id=2014.a5>
In the old days, around 200 years ago, it was thought women were less intelligent than men. They had a subjected role in the society, especially when it comes to education and knowledge in different tasks. Women were not capable of learning serious things and therefore they were not allowed to go to school; Instead they had to remain at home learning to become a good mother and to help their own ones with the duties of a household. The boys on the other hand were sent away to institutions where they could improve their skills in writing, reading, math and some other subjects. Nowadays it sounds quite strange to think of women as less intelligent creatures, but actually that was how people thought then. They reasoned: why pay a costly schooling to a daughter, for no use?

There was a lot of research made to prove women's inferiority to men. In the 1860's scientists discovered a new method to measure the human brain; craniometri was a way to look more closely at it. The volume and circumference of the skull was measured to estimate the size of the brain. From these facts it was possible to say who was clever and who was not. It became possible to compare the human brain with brains from other species, apes for instance, and to make comparisons between humans: men and women, but also between people like Europeans, Africans etc. The female brain was discovered to be smaller, more childlike in character and less developed from the ape's than the human male's; proofs enough to show women's inferiority to men, in the same way as it was said that children were less intelligent than adults. Simply, a woman's brain was not constructed for being used as a "thinking machine".

The descriptions of the intellectual characteristics of men and women were widely discussed during the 19'th century Britain. Some maintained that the thought process was different in the two sexes as well; men came to their conclusions by careful analysis, they were stronger, more powerful and had the ability of long and earnest thought. It was the men who had the energy, while women had greater intuitive power; this though was not seen as a substitute for rational thought when it came to decision-making. The intellect of a woman was deductive in character; men's was inductive. Women seemed insightful and sensitive but without the ability to concentrate or weigh evidence in making judgments. Lack of depth and their flightiness made women naturally inferior to men. It was argued that women did not have the physical or moral resources needed for statesmanship and therefore they were forbidden to participate in politics for instance. 
...All women, like Eve, had a tendency to err [...] Women's inability to disentangle their passions from their reasoning, their emotions from their judgment, was a source of constant anxiety to men it was claimed. Only with outside help from religion and from men who cared for them could women develop self-control. (p.16)

Even when it came to creativeness it was the men, who had the special gift. It was clear, because no female counterparts to Mozart, Shakespeare and Rembrandt were shown. It was considered that sensitiveness, which was to women's advantage, was a part of the concept of creativeness. Although, women still did not have the capacity of being the men's equal.

However, some girls, mostly from the upper and middle classes, had the possibility to be sent to a boarding school, church schooling or being educated by governesses. Schooling was considered a way for girls to obtain social rather than intellectual skills, and the training consisted mostly of an education which prepared them for the marriage market; they were taught different subjects, intending to become pleasant entertainers: music, conversation and pastimes of quite a simple character, suitable for young ladies whose carrier lay in marriage. Actually how to behave amongst men to get a chance to get married, was the main theme of all female education at this time. There was no training in skills as housekeeping and childcare, which perhaps might have been more useful. The sensitiveness was already innately there, and other knowledge of being a good housewife was up to the mothers to teach their daughters. The importance of womanhood was to be beautiful, not intelligent. 
"Women had always been selected as mates on the basis of physical beauty not mental ability" (p.14) "To maintain the physical beauty of women, men had devised ways to prevent women to having to cope with the vicissitudes of life. Necessity had forced men to develop intellectually so that women could be protected" (p.20)

Because of their inferiority in brain capacity, women were encouraged to believe that higher education could never be of any value to them. It was also thought that mental exhaustion could be unfavorable on the physical well being of women. There was a danger that too much education might make the woman incapable of having children.

In spite of all reluctance, feminist groups started to claim women's right to education. They maintained that middle-class women needed to be educated like men, if they remained unmarried. They succeeded in their demands and started new schools for women only. Soon it was demonstrated that women could study the same subjects at the same level, without ill effects on their health or social status. The schools stressed the importance of physical exercise between the ordinary lectures to dispel the myth that education would harm women's biological balance and fitness for motherhood. For the first time, women had the opportunity to function as equals to men; take the same college courses and examinations in the same amount of time. In 1878, they were allowed to apply to all degrees of the University of London as well. In the ancient universities in Cambridge and Oxford though, they had to wait until the twentieth century.

During many years the biggest problem with this "right-to-school motion" was to make it possible for the families to afford an education for their daughters. The schools were expensive and in the beginning it was also bothersome for the mothers back home not to get the assistance they were used to. Of great importance was probably though that people actually let their children be educated regardless to sex, even if it was costly for most families. Now there was a chance to prove that women did not have limited resources, e.g. lack of brain capacity and a defective body construction for being a good grammarian. A craniologist named J S Mill, finally found that women's although smaller brain probably had a greater cerebral circulation and more connections between the halves. Maybe that was enough to compensate for the size of it?
</doc>