Private schools have long played a crucial role in male elite formation
but their importance to women’s trajectories is less clear. In this paper,
we explore the relationship between girls’ private schools and elite
recruitment in Britain over the past 120years – drawing on the historical
database of Who’s Who, a unique catalogue ...
Private schools have long played a crucial role in male elite formation
but their importance to women’s trajectories is less clear. In this paper,
we explore the relationship between girls’ private schools and elite
recruitment in Britain over the past 120years – drawing on the historical
database of Who’s Who, a unique catalogue of the elite. We find that
alumni of elite girls schools have been around 20 times more likely than
other women to reach elite positions. They are also more likely to follow
particular channels of elite recruitment, via the universities of Oxford
and Cambridge, private members clubs and elite spouses. Yet such
schools have also consistently been less propulsive than their male-only
counterparts. We argue this is rooted in the ambivalent aims of girls
elite education, where there has been a longstanding tension between
promoting academic achievement and upholding traditional processes
of gendered social reproduction.