Helene Lange

Higher Education of Women Helene Lange

The prominent German feminist Helene Lange (1848-1930) played an active part in the European women's movement and in the fight for better female education opportunities. She wanted to improve women's acces to higher education institutions and criticised a female education that was mainly organised by men. In her essay Lange compares the situation of women in Germany with those of women in other European nations to find solutions for the problem of a male-dominated and misogynic education system. "What is the reason the German woman can not obtain what the woman of other civilized nations obtained? Is the reason to be looked for in themselves? Or in the man? Or in insurmountable exterior obstacles? Much depends upon the answer of this question; for it is decisive in the choice of roads to be traveled. A study of the development of the woman question in other nations perhaps will give us a clew." (H. Lange). Reprint of the original edition from 1897.