Essay: Harriet Martineau
Harriet Martineau on Individuality Through Education
Harriet Martineau was not only an intelligent author during the Victorian times, but also a feminist who blazed the path for other women to find value in individualism. In her writings, Martineau makes bold claims about the state of female education and the important adjustments necessary in order to make it equal to that of male education. While standing confident in her own sense of selfhood, Martineau demands that we must all fight for equal education and change the way we look at learning as a whole. Rather than delegating different educational standards based on sex, Martineau implies that being educated as an individual rather than a gender will inevitably cultivate a more structured and driven society as a result of individual growth and maturity among all genders and all people.
In the Victorian era, education is wrongly founded on the bias that men should be the designated scholars because of their ability to process information, disregarding the fact that every human deserves fair education. “It may be as well, notwithstanding, to inquire whether the difference be as great as is generally supposed between the mental structure of men and women,” (Yates 88-89). Because education is not equal based solely on society’s ideology of gender, Martineau challenges the validity of the argument that men should be educated and women need not be. With this at the core of Martineau’s strong beliefs on individuality, we are all encouraged to adjust our mindset in order to guide education towards individual focus and away from a favored sex. In order to create a fair foundation by which any individual can succeed, we must recognize that “everything possible should be done to improve the quality of the mind of every human being,” (Household Education 94). Education is not so shallow that it can only be applied to and by specific genders, learning is possible across the board and should be described as such.
At this point in the Victorian era, male education is not intended to benefit anyone other than the student learning, and it is this academic plan that Martineau argues should be implemented for all genders and all individuals. When addressing the topic of men discussing women’s education, Martineau writes that “[h]e has no misgiving about the height of his own liberality when he assumes that the grand use of a good education to a woman is that it improves her usefulness to someone else… [they] think they have said everything when they have recommended good intellectual training as fitting women to be ‘mothers of hero’s,’ ‘companions to men,’ and so on,” (Once a Week 176). While it is important for women to be able to take on duties in order to provide for her family, education should be focused on each individual so that the individual can decide how to use their teachings. In order to focus on equal education, the goal must be to equip every student for personal growth and knowledge rather than what each individual can do with that knowledge. Individually focused education will benefit society as a result of common intellect, however, the goal of education should not be to equip certain students based on their assumed ability to provide for society because it will come as a result of proper education. Martineau continues by emphasizing that “[t]he boys are not encouraged to study for such a reason as becoming intelligent companions to somebody hereafter, or being the fathers of great men. The boys know that they are to be made wise as they can be made under their conditions; that the knowledge they gain is good in itself…” (Once A Week 178). A good educator is not measured by what a student goes on to do with their acquired knowledge. Instead, a good educator is based upon the impact that they have on their individual students, and their ability to provide information as a resource for each students’ academic growth. Similarly, good education is not focused on what a student will do with intelligence, but rather securing each student with foundational proficiency with which they can use to propel them into personal growth and maturity throughout the remainder of their lives. The current state of male education is based on this ideal of good education. The boys who are able to experience structured learning are not doing so in order to provide for someone else. Their ability to provide stems from their strong sense of self and acknowledgement that the material they are learning is beneficial in itself. The information that they are processing stimulates personal growth and maturity with which they have the luxury of knowing is valuable even without any underlying intent.
The contribution of each individual to society directly correlates to equal education across genders and the overall focus on selfhood. Martineau argues that “…we must improve and extend education to the utmost; and then open a fair field to the powers and energies we have educated. This will secure our welfare, nationally and in our own homes, to which few elements can contribute more vitally and more richly than the independent industry of our countrywomen,” (Female Industry p. 336). Equal education that is readily available to everyone, regardless of gender, will be the driving force that leads us to a more sustainable society. Creating opportunities for women in the same ways that society creates for men will benefit the greater good because it will allow anyone to become an active and intelligent participant in the system at large. We know that a system like this has the utmost possibility of succeeding because “…in pre-modern times, men and women had worked side by side to sustain themselves and their families. It was only with the growth of the middle class and its practical dependency on other people that women’s work had become an issue of concern,” (Sanders 163). When extreme dependability became part of the social construct, an immense lack of focus on individuality came as a consequence. We began to allow laziness and assumed authority to decide who is able and who is restricted in ability. Working together is what works best and limiting resources to one specific gender is what will lead nations to failure as a consequence of social and gendered ideology. Dependability strips humans of a confident sense of selfhood. Had we remained individually focused, society would have been able to continue thriving in non-gendered unison because of the hard work each person is able to dedicate. Martineau continues this argument by saying that the “census figures showed that women were increasingly working outside the home for essential occupations, for both themselves and their families but also for the economy of the country as a whole,” (163). Extending equal employment opportunities to all individuals results in the building up of a stronger economy. By placing limitations on jobs, we are restricting the economy’s ability to grow and strengthen solely in order to maintain the stereotype that not all genders can do just any job. In order to create a society that can ask individual to carry out any task or job, we must first educate each individual equally.
Martineau believes that individualism is attainable by all because the resources already exist, it is simply a matter of making them accessible to everyone and creating an even educational foundation. In Martineau’s autobiography she recalls “from the earliest time when I could think on the subject of Women’s Rights and condition, that the first requisite to advancement is the self-reliance which result from self-discipline,” (303). Before anyone can truly become valuable members of society and strong assets to a family, they must first find value in themselves. Even from the beginning, Martineau recognized the importance of selfhood because it is the foundation of our lives. In order to obtain this strong sense of individuality, the playing field must be equal from the start, most importantly the playing field of education. Martineau continues with addressing that “…women, like men, can obtain whatever they show themselves fit for. Let them be educated, --let their powers be cultivated to the extent for which the means are already provided, and all that is wanted or ought to be desired will follow of course. Whatever a woman proves able to do, society will be thankful to see her do, --just as if she were a man,” (304). Harriet Martineau is her own example of how successful Victorian woman can be and she knows the challenges of being of the less fortunate gender. She is confident that women can achieve selfhood if they are educated properly and purposefully mentored because she has done so herself. Being an author in a patriarchal society forced Martineau to endure overwhelming exposure to the gender inequalities present in society. It is because of this that she is confident in exclaiming such bold statements regarding gender and education. She has personally experienced individual growth through constantly rejecting conformity, and instead prioritizing herself and her needs. In doing so, Martineau comes to realize that it is her duty to encourage others in their pursuit of personal identity and stability.
Harriet Martineau is more than a well-established author of her time. Her courage to refuse social constructs in order to prioritize herself leads her to encourage others in doing the same. Martineau put herself in position to take a stand against those who restricted education to one specific gender because of her ability to recognize its importance for all individuals. In order to continue the legacy of Harriet Martineau we have to remember to fight for a strong sense of self and the rights we deserve in order to build our individuality. If we make equal education the social norm, we can expect a more persistent and active society as a result of confident and well educated individuals.
Works Cited:
Martineau, Harriet., “Female Industry”, The Edinburgh Review, v. 109, (1859), pp. 293-336.
---., Harriet Martineau’s Autobiography, ed. Peterson (2007)
---., Household Education, 1848., pp. 240-245.
---., “What Women are Educated for”, Once A Week, August 10, 1861 pp.175-179
Sanders, Valerie, et al. "Harriet Martineau and the Birth of Disciplines : Nineteenth-Century "
Intellectual Powerhouse. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017. pp. 155-168.
Yates, Gayle G., Harriet Martineau on Women, Rutgers University P, 1985