User:Acorntree144/Women at German universities

Universities in the 16th to 18th century
Until the 18th century noble and bourgeois sons were educated at universities which were still organised in four faculties: the faculty of Arts, Theology, Medicine and Law, for the education of clergymen, doctors and administrative officials, as well as judges and lawyers. Universities continued to be spaces of male socialization, although celibacy for professors had been abolished and students were no longer living in accommodation reserved for men. This was the result of education for occupations only available to men. Aditionally, since the 16th century students had regarded each other as commilitones (brothers-in-arms) and the culture of duels increased.



Since there were no generally accepted and binding admission requirements, women were not explicitly banned from studying. Due to the fact that there was no profession a woman could practise after graduating from university, they were left with no real motivation to pursue a course of study. Therefore, women only seldom studied at German universities. The few known examples and the circumstances surrounding their studies emphasized the importance of not distracting the male students with their looks. In the seventeenth century Anna Maria van Schurman, for example, participated in lectures at the University of Utrecht, but only from behind a screen on a balcony to protect the male students from seeing her. In the eighteenth century, Luise Adelgunde Victorie Gottsched could only listen to her husband's lectures at the University of Leipzig when hiding behind a half-closed door. In this way, university education was possible for women in individual cases, but the idea of a female professor teaching at German universities was inconceivable.

In the eighteenth century, individual women, in particular the wives and daughters of professors at universities which were open to reform could meet informally with students and professors for an intellectual exchange. For example, many daughters and wives of professors from Göttingen were highly educated compared to other women. Encouraged by her father, who educated his daughter as an experiment, Dorothea Schlözer received a doctorate from the University of Göttingen in 1787. Later, her father concentrated on marrying her to a socially acceptable man. Unlike Schlözer, Dorothea Christiane Erxleben used the authorization given to her by the Prussian king Frederick the Great to complete a degree in Medicine. She received her degree on 6th May 1754 from the University of Halle, and subsequently practiced as a doctor. These exceptional cases emphasize how in the 18th century completing a course of study and continuing to use the acquired knowledge in their lives only became harder for women. The aquired knowledge was viewed as "unwomanly" and potentially a threat to their reputation. Academic studies endangereded the women's chances of marriage, but offered no independent professions.

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The leading role of Switzerland
In the beginning, women in German-speaking countries were only able to pursue academic studies in Switzerland. The first female auditors were admitted at the University of Zurich in 1840, which had been founded only a few years before. After an application for matriculation of a Russian woman had been unsuccessful in 1864, the application for a doctorate in medicine of Russian Nadezhda Suslova (1843-1918) was approved in 1867, and moreover, she was matriculated as a regular student retroactively.

Marie Heim-Vögtlin (1845–1908) was the first female university student from Switzerland admitted in 1874. She also graduated with a degree in Medicine. Famous female students from Zurich in the 19th century included, amongst others, the Swiss women Elisabeth Flühmann, Meta von Salis and Emilie Kempin-Spyri, the Russian Vera Figner and the Germans Emilie Lehmus, Pauline Rüdin, Franziska Tiburtius, Anita Augspurg, Ricarda Huch and Käthe Schirmacher.

There were different reasons for the pioneering role of Switzerland: In general, university education did not carry a lot of social prestige in Switzerland at this time. Universities tried to attract new students, which ensured their funding by providing additional enrolment fees. Every institution could decide on the admission of women individually. Newer universities, such as Zurich, led by example. However, Switzerland's oldest university, Basel,did not admit women until 1890.

Following the first admissions, the number of students at the University of Zurich increased significantly. In the summer of 1873, 26 %, or 114, of the students were female. Most of the female students (109) during this time were from Russia. However, the number of women decreased dramatically in 1873, after the Russian Tsar had prohibited Russian women from studying in Zurich with a Ukase proclamation. Only 9 female students were enrolled in winter 1880/81. After the annulment of the Ukase, the number of Russian female students increased again substantially. In the first decade of the 20th century, mainly foreign women from Russia und Germany were studying in Switzerland, only later did more Swiss women enroll.

The dominance of foreign female students was also caused by the fact that, at first, people who were not born in the Canton of Zurich did not need a school leaving certificate for university admission. A "Cerificate of Good Conduct" sufficed. Only in 1872 was the minimum age for studying raised to 18, and in 1873 a school leaving certificate became obligatory for all students. Since then, many women who had wanted to study prepared for the matriculation examination half a year or a year in advance, after arriving in Zurich. Only after having passed the exam were they allowed to matriculate. However, many women had attended lectures at the university before. Since 1900 only the Swiss have been allowed to register as auditors.

Although women were allowed to study at universities in Switzerland, many students and many professors maintained a hostile attitude towards women's higher eduation. For example in 1896, the students council refused a request for women to be allowed to vote in university matters.