Mariam Kaukhchishvili – a Female Reformer

A supporter of Euro-American ideas, and their implementer in Georgian reality, Mariam Kaukhchishvili sought the reformation of the Georgian educational system, defense of women’s rights, and the revival of Georgian theatre. Born in Kutaisi (1866), she was a graduate of the St. Nino School. Mariam Kaukhchishvili successfully finished a pedagogy course at Geneva University, after which, she carried out a great reform in the Georgian educational system, inspired by the learning and teaching processes at the Swiss University and French secondary and nursery schools. In 1908, in line with the American educational system, she introduced co-educational learning to her women’s school, which, at that time, was both a progressive and democratic decision. She also established free studies for poor pupils with money raised by public charity and different events. From 1911, she chaired the Kutaisi Women’s Society, which tried to prove to conservative society that “a woman was not created only for motherhood, sweet feelings and to make the world more beautiful”. Mariam Kaukhchishvili had democratic ideas about the awareness and consciousness of the Georgian people. Besides reforms in the educational system, she took an active part in the development of Georgian drama, connecting theatre to life, and introducing the principles of realism. Together with other great Georgian patriots of the time, Mariam Kaukhchishvili did her best to revive and reform the educational field, to introduce actresses into the Georgian theatre, and to somehow change women’s rights and equality in the Georgian reality.