Thoughts on the education of daughters: with reflections on female conduct, in the more important duties of life is the first published work of the British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Published in 1787 by her friend Joseph Johnson, Thoughts is a conduct book that offers advice on female education to the emerging British middle class. Although dominated by considerations of morality and etiquette, the text also contains basic child-rearing instructions, such as how to care for an infant.
Title page from the first edition of Hester Chapone's Letters (1773), one of the most popular conduct books at the time Wollstonecraft was writing Thoughts
Mary Wollstonecraft by John Opie (c. 1791)
Female education is a catch-all term for a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education for girls and women. It is frequently called girls' education or women's education. It includes areas of gender equality and access to education. The education of women and girls is important for the alleviation of poverty. Broader related topics include single-sex education and religious education for women, in which education is divided along gender lines.
Schoolgirls in Guinea
London Mission Bengali Girls' School, Calcutta (LMS, 1869, p.12)
A girls' college in Palakkad, India
Girls' class in Afghanistan, 2002