Is there an old girls’ network? Girls’ schools and recruitment to the British elite

Title:

“Is there an old girls’ network? Girls’ schools and recruitment to the British elite”

Authors:

Eve Worth, Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 44(1), 1-25

What’s it about?

We know from previous research that girls gain an indirect benefit from going to a private school, because it increases their chances of marrying a richer man.

In this study, the authors look at how far going to an elite private school helps to propel girls to themselves reach elite positions in society.

Methodology:

The study uses historical data taken from Who’s Who over the past two centuries.

To be included in Who’s Who one’s achievements have to be assessed by an anonymous panel; alternatively, one can gain entry simply by virtue of being in an elite occupation such a member of Parliament, a judge, an ambassador or the CEO of a leading company.

Either way, inclusion is a sign of having reached an elite position in society. The authors use the data to plot the trend in the educational background of women in elite positions, and compare this trend to that of men in elite positions. 

Key findings:

• From around the 1870s onwards, girls schools started to achieve notable success, with some of their alumnae later achieving entry in Who’s Who. By 1900, a quarter of the women. appearing in Who’s Who had attended one of the schools in the Girls School Association
• The study selected the twelve most elite girls’ schools: Cheltenham Ladies’ College, North London Collegiate School, St Paul’s Girls’ School, Oxford High School for Girls, Queen’s College on Harley Street, St Leonards in St Andrews, Clifton High School for Girls, King Edward VI High School for Girls in Birmingham, Roedean, Godolphin & Laytmer Girls’ School,  Wycombe Abbey, and the Benenden School. Over the years, women who had attended one of these schools have been approximately 20 times more likely to end up in Who’s Who, as compared with women who attended any other kind of school.
• However, the success of elite girls’ schools in propelling their alumnae into elite positions in society has always been much lower than that of elite boys’ schools. In explaining this, the authors point to the ambivalence in girls’ schools objectives between pursuing educational attainment and inculcating an appropriate femininity.
• Among private school alumnae, a significant proportion of successful women joined members-only clubs, but there is no evidence that these clubs were themselves additionally instrumental in these women gaining an elite place in society.

What are the limitations?

The strength of this study – its reliance on hard evidence of the Who’s Who data – is also its limitation in that it does not reveal much about girls’ private education outside the top echelons of the schooling system.