"sätta flickan i stånd att fullgöra sina husliga plikter" : Fyra märkeskvinnor och flickors slöjdundervisning

Sammanfattning: "sätta flickan i stånd att fullgöra sina husliga plikter" Fyra märkeskvinnor och flickors slöjdundervisning. ("Fit the Girl for her Household Duties". Four Pioneer Women in Girls' Handicraft Education.)This dissertation deals with the development and establishment of girls' handicraft as a school subject in Sweden between 1880 and 1920.Four pioneer women are studied. They are Anna Hierta Retzius (1841-1924), Hulda Lundin (1847-1921), Maria Nordenfelt (1860-1941) and Andrea Eneroth (1873-1935).The dissertation also includes two publications: "qvinnan bär hemmets trefnad på spetsen af sin synål" (The woman carries the comfort of the home on the point of her needle: Handicraft Education for Girls in Stockholm Elementary Schools in the late 1800's and early 1900's) published in 1992 and the attached article "Maria Nordenfelt och hennes seminarium" (Maria Nordenfelt and her seminar).The main issues are why handicraft education for girls was so topical around the turn of the century, why these women dedicated themselves to the development of curricula, how their efforts can be understood in their historical context and, finally, were their achievements just a manifestation of the spirit of their time?The theoretical approach adopts the concepts of "life line" and "form of life" used by feminist researchers.It shows how well the handicraft education fitted into the science of modern education at the time, and how the school subject became a part of the great modernization project of the country. The four women also supplied a demand in society for suitable professions for women. An important conclusion is that girls' handicraft education in Sweden was powerfully shaped by four women who devised curricula that were influenced by the social values of their class.