“Give a Girl An Education”: Jane Austen on Women’s Academic and Intellectual Enrichment

This thesis explores how Jane Austen, through her novels Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Mansfield Park, contributed to the cultural conversations surrounding women’s education in Georgian-era England. While women’s education at the time was limited and controversial, Austen critiques the prevailing system and supports the intellectual growth of women. Moreover, this thesis analyzes the influence upon Austen's position, beginning with her own educational history and expanding to consider the effect of Enlightenment ideology, particularly the writings of Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Gisborne, and Hannah More, on Austen’s thinking. Ultimately, Austen challenges the restrictions placed on women’s education by advocating for self-driven, reason-based learning, aligned with Enlightenment and Georgian philosophical thought.