Las migraciones: complejidad, desarrollo y transnacionalidad

The topic of women’s education finds its way into Der Bazar in various articles.

Each issue of Der Bazar is comprised of texts that address a variety of topics: fashion, the

329 Ibid.

191 home, family life, national and international news, events surrounding the royal families, advertisements, and employment opportunities among others. The employment section in particular is noteworthy for showing the types of positions available to women of the middle class and thus providing insight into the level of education and professional training presumed of the average reader. By reading the advertisements against the grain – not in terms of what they reveal about the prospective employee’s future, but rather for what they reveal about her past, her education, and her training – we can construct an image of the typical middle class woman and her preparatory training in life. The majority of positions advertised were for governesses, travel companions, or social companions for lonely, elderly women. These classified advertisements targeted a very distinct readership; women, who were instructed in a foreign language and a musical instrument, who were versed in child care and domestic duties, and who were expected to pass as educated without seeming “bookish,” confrontational, or unfeminine.

Such advertisements for employment reveal how limited the prospects were for women seeking professional roles outside of the home. The texts within the magazine support this assessment and engage in a critical dialogue with the state of women’s opportunities in schooling and professionalization. One such example is a fictional article found in the January 1857 issue of Der Bazar, titled “Sie will Gesellschaftlerin werden”

(She wants to become a female companion).³³⁰ The text is written by Ameln Bölte,

330 “Sie will Gesellschaftlerin werden.” Der Bazar, Illustrirte Damen-Zeitung, January1857. The term

“Gesellschaftlerin” is not easy to translate into English as it carries specific connotations that the English

“female companion” does not quite mirror. In short, a female companion was typically a young girl of the middle class who was educated enough to be a skilled conversationalist, who could play an instrument and speak a foreign language, and who would then be hired based on her ability to navigate social situations and provide pleasant companionship. Her employer would likely be an older single woman, often widowed.

Their relationship would mirror that of a niece/aunt or a granddaughter/grandmother. Women (as opposed to men) were especially in need of such arrangements as it was deemed improper and unsafe for them to

192 reproducing a dialogue between a young girl and an older woman on the topic of

education and employment. The young girl is said to be fatherless and in need of work in order to support herself. She tells her interlocutor of her plans to become a

“Gesellschaftlerin” (female companion) in order to earn a living, noting that she has all the skills necessary for such a position: that is, she can sing a little. The girl has, in effect, no skills and has not been prepared to do anything other than keep others company and amuse and entertain with her “charm.” The older woman with whom she is speaking bemoans the state of women’s upbringing and schooling, arguing that it puts them in the very predicament her young companion finds herself in: alone, financially in need, and with no actual skills on which to rely in order to find employment outside of the domestic realm. The unnamed older speaker states, “sie haben eigentlich Nichts gelernt, und seit der Zeit, wo sie die Schule verlassen, nur dem Müßiggange gelebt. Jetzt klopft die Noth an Ihre Thüre und – Sie hoffen durch neuen Müßiggang für Ihre Existenz sorgen zu können. Das geht nicht.”³³¹ When the young girl asks in frustration, “was soll ich denn aber thun?” (what am I supposed to do?) the older woman has nothing but the following curt reply for her: “etwas lernen” (learn something).³³²

To learn something, or rather, to become sufficiently educated to enter the skilled work force of the time, was easier said than done. Bölte is aware of that, describing the ways in which the social system of her time created these situations, leaving women in

travel alone and such paid companionship provided the socially necessitated decorum to make travel and geographical mobility more readily available to them.

331 Ibid., 4. Translation: “You have not actually learned anything, and since having left school, only lived a life of leisure. Now hardship is knocking at your door and you’re hoping to make a living out of more leisure. That does not work.”

332 Ibid.

193 insoluble predicaments: “Wahrscheinlich überließ er es dem Schicksal, wie so manche andere sorglose Väter es thun, Ihnen durch die Ehe eine Versorgung zu bereiten; das ist aber ein Hazardspiel, dessen Nummern nicht immer herauskommen; das große Loos ist selten und die Nieten sind oft noch der bessere Theil.”³³³ In other words, Bölte places the blame with the girl’s father, and, by extension, with a patriarchal society that assumes that a woman moves from the parental household to that of her spouse always cared for by a father or husband. This treatment of daughters as perpetual dependents not only denied women a voice but also a viable chance at life outside of the domestic sphere. In addressing the young girl’s plight, Bölte draws attention to a greater social problem at hand: the lack of opportunities for and agency granted to women of her time.

Bölte ends the story by offering a solution that runs counter to the understanding of femininity during her time. Instead of steering the young girl away from labor and work with her hands, the older woman in the story advises her young listener to find employment doing some sort of craft (Handarbeit), deeming it much more honorable than the role of Gesellschaftlerin. She urges her to take pride in creating something and working with her hands rather than relying on superficial skills such as talking and socializing in order to earn a living. She concludes her lecture with an ominous “Dieser Rath gilt für Viele!” (this advice is meant for many!).³³⁴ Thus, Bölte represents a contemporary voice offering an alternate understanding of gender and class roles.

333 Ibid. Translation: “He probably left it up to fate, like so many care-free fathers, to settle your future through a favorable marriage. This is a gamble, however, that does not often pay out; big wins are rare and the stakes are high.”

334 Ibid.

194 Moreover, Der Bazar, by publishing this piece, demonstrates support of the women’s movement in the realm of professional training and education, even if nowhere else.

A similar view is presented in an April 1861 article titled “Frauenerziehung”

(women’s education).³³⁵ An anonymous author focuses on a particular kind of education – “die Eheerziehung” (education within marriage). The article calls on husbands to take seriously the responsibility of educating their wives in matters of the mind. The author then makes reference to education being a highly debated topic, noting however that less focus has been placed on “die Eheerziehung” in particular. According to the unnamed writer, husbands, who so often mock their wives for having a superficial understanding of politics and public affairs, are the very people responsible for offering their wives a better education in these matters. Although the focus here is on the marital interaction between the genders, the argument reads in many ways similar to that presented by Bölte in the previously described story. Whereas Bölte takes issue with the father figure and the latter author focuses on husbands, the social commentary is much the same; the nineteenth-century woman is the victim of a patriarchal social structure that stunts her intellectual growth and limits her existence to that of a perpetual dependent.

Yet another article on the topic of education appears in the July 1858 issue of Der Bazar, titled “Die Wahl eines Gatten” (To chose a husband).³³⁶ In this article, it is Ameln Bölte once again who makes plain the difficulties women face in becoming educated, this time tracing the problem to the ineffective school system that does little more than fill girls’ minds with useless information:

335 “Frauenerziehung.” Der Bazar, Illustrirte Damen-Zeitung, April 1861.

336 “Die Wahl eines Gatten.” Der Bazar, Illustrirte Damen-Zeitung, July 1858, 210.