An exploration of female educational outcomes in South Africa over the nineteenth century
| dc.contributor.author | Damon, Faith | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-07-30T12:32:13Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-07-30T12:32:13Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The study of female education, especially in South Africa during the 19th century, has been an understudied area of historical economic research. This thesis will aim to fill this gap by investigating whether gender parity existed between male and female educational outcomes. Using historical data from the Western Cape Archives Records Service and Cape Colony Census data, the educational outcomes of males and females will be compared and discussed. This thesis highlights the importance of female human capital development for economic growth. During British rule in 19th-century South Africa, Missionary activities proliferated. Mission schools provided education to mainly Indigenous and Coloured communities. The Missionary impact expanded with government aid but also reinforced racial segregation in schooling. In the 19th century, there were significant changes in the labour market, influencing educational access and gendered roles into the 20th century. The regression analysis of the late 19th century highlighted that Coloured females surpassed Coloured males in attendance rates. White males slightly surpassed White females. The analysis studied the impact of average attendance, school order ratios and total teachers on the enrolment of males and females. The early 20th century data analysis showed the same trend (Coloured females surpassing males, while White males surpassed females) for literacy rates. Coloured females surpassed Coloured males in terms of the ability to read, while White males slightly surpassed White females in terms of literacy. These confounding trends indicate a need for further research to understand these unexpected gender dynamics. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10566/20634 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Universty of the Western Cape | |
| dc.subject | Female education | |
| dc.subject | human capital theory | |
| dc.subject | gender inequality | |
| dc.subject | racial inequality | |
| dc.subject | Cape Colony and nineteenth century | |
| dc.title | An exploration of female educational outcomes in South Africa over the nineteenth century | |
| dc.type | Thesis |