Проблеми вищої жіночої освіти в Російській імперії та еміграція жінок до Швейцарії у 1870-х роках

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to investigate the state of higher female education in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century and find out the reasons for female educational emigration to Switzerland in the early 1870s. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism and objectivity. The general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as special-historical - problem-chronological, comparative-historical, and retrospective methods - are used. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that little-researched aspects of the reasons for the educational emigration of women to Switzerland in the early 1870s are highlighted. The point of view of the government circles of the Russian Empire on the expediency of organizing women's higher education at home and their attempts to obtain education abroad is shown. The attitude of women revolutionaries to their experience of studying in Switzerland is revealed. Conclusions. Women's attempts to obtain higher education were motivated by the desire for self-realization and to raise their social status. They believed they could prove by their example that there was every reason to grant women equal rights to men. The half-heartedness and incompleteness of the reforms in the Russian Empire, which gave women access only to secondary education, forced them to look for alternative ways of acquiring scientific knowledge in non-formal education and universities abroad. In emigration, regardless of the initial goal, a new circle of communication often changed female students' views, convincing them to take the path of revolutionary struggle.