ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to explore representations of literacy, education and schooling in the writings of eighteenth-century Scottish women. Beginning by addressing issues of context, class, truthfulness and authorship in autobiographical writings, it then considers the intersection of literacy, class and gender, problematizing the use of writing as a marker of women’s literacy. In Scotland, as in England, the education of girls varied by class, although only a minority of girls experienced formal, full-time schooling. Regardless of class, a large part of all girls’ education took place at home. Drawing on the experiences of 10 Scottish women autobiographers, this chapter focuses on individual experiences of education and on the interface between school and home in these girls’ lives. For some young women, the education they received was adequate but others, particularly those with interests in science and mathematics, chafed under the restrictions put upon them as they got older. Domestic and agricultural duties, social mores, the need to make a good match and contemporary concepts of femininity all limited girls’ access to academic learning, although the existence of a familial and/or community literary culture and the presence of sympathetic male relatives could go some way in ameliorating those limitations.
