Evangelical Womanhood in the Nineteenth Century: The Role of Women in Sunday Schools

• Published in: Feminist studies 1978-10, Vol.4 (3), p.62-80
• Main Author: Boylan, Anne M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: A Symposium: Women and Religion; Christian missionaries; Friendship; Gender roles; History/Historic/Historical; Men; Religion/Religions/Religious; Role/Roles; Teacher organizations; Teachers; Teaching (see also Programmed learning); Woman/Women (see also Female); Womens education; Womens rights movements; Womens studies; Working women
• ISSN: 0046-3663
• DOI: 10.2307/3177538

Examined are several issues in the history of American women: (1) the nature of nineteenth-century prescriptions for F behavior, (2) how these came into existence, & (3) what role women played in shaping them. Through examination of women's role in teaching & organizing Protestant Sunday schools, it is demonstrated that women themselves took an active role in delineating a role prescription termed "evangelical womanhood," & that this prescription appealed to others because it offered an appealing vision of women as useful & significant individuals. Once created, this prescriptive ideal was transmitted to succeeding generations through conscious efforts to offer evangelical womanhood as a positive role choice to the young. In Sunday schools, these efforts involved creating close ties between teacher & student & training students to become teachers. The example of Sunday schools also shows how the role of evangelical woman was interpreted over the course of the nineteenth century. Although some Sunday school teachers interpreted the role broadly by becoming missionaries, reformers, & activists, the majority interpreted it narrowly by stressing women's "invisible influence" in society. Only after mid-century did women Sunday school teachers begin to move into leadership roles by serving as superintendents of Sunday schools, promoting new teaching methods at conventions, & campaigning for temperance education in Sunday schools. Sources used include minutes of Sunday school teachers' meetings, diaries, & autobiographies of teachers & students, teachers' magazines, & advice books for teachers. AA.