Between morality and practical utility: the education of underclass girls in Pasto, 1904-1930

Abstract

This article, stems from a more extensive research on female education in Pasto, demonstrates how the Government of the newly established Department of Nariño responded to the formation of girls from economically disadvantaged sectors. With practical vision, an educational project was implemented that aimed at preparing girls in trade in order to stimulate the local economy. The project was presented as being necessary to the formation of the moral well-being of the girls, arguing that poverty was a social sector situated on the edge of a moral abyss.

The research is based on the history of society and on studies of gender, using documentary sources from the historical archives of the City of Pasto, and dispositions from the national and regional government and the local press. The study demonstrates the necessity of schools to act as barriers in hindering inequalities generated by social injustices.