Vocations for Women. Education and Opportunity for Women at the Harris Institute, Preston, during the First World War

Abstract

This dissertation examines the neglected area of women’s post-compulsory education during the First World War by studying the community of women who took evening classes at the Harris Institute, Preston. The history of women on the Home Front continues to receive, rightly, much attention, but up to now has tended to focus on opportunities for women’s work, particularly in munitions. The current literature ignores the many women who entered clerical work during the war, and the role of vocational training has not been looked at. Yet learning skills for work equipped women to gain employment, especially in clerical and technical roles as opportunities arose in wartime.

The Harris Institute class registers for the period 1914 to 1918 facilitate a study into women on the Home Front through their education and occupations and draws attention to the variety of women’s experience during the war. Some were employed and taking classes to enhance their skills, others were taking classes to train for different occupations. Some were not employed but were taking vocational classes, and still others were pursuing classes for leisure.

This dissertation argues that by attending the Harris Institute, women were displaying agency in their education and leisure time, and were planning future careers. This study confirms the importance of post-compulsory vocational training to women during the war and its inter-relationship with clerical work. Furthermore, it argues that their education was liberating, even if the benefits were temporary, and contributes to the history of women’s education.