Sarolta Geőcze de Szendrő (; 27 December 1862 – 23 September 1928) was a Hungarian

Christian socialist A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words ''Christ'' and ''Chr ...

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

activist and educator.

Life

Geőcze was born on 27 December 1862 in the village of Bacskó in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

, now part of

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. She graduated from the State Institute for the Instruction of Women Primary School Teachers ( (Buda Institute)) in 1882 and then later the State Institute for the Instruction of Women Secondary School Teachers ( (Pest Institute)). She was recommended for a position at a girls'

intermediate school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

Brassó County Brassó was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in central Romania (south-eastern Transylvania). The capital of the county was Brassó (''Brașov'' in Romanian, ''Kronstadt'' in German). Geography ...

(now in Romania) in 1886 and was director of the school two years later. Geőcze was transferred to another girls' intermediate school in

Komárom County Komárom (Hungarian: ; or ; , later ; ) is a city in Hungary on the south bank of the Danube in Komárom-Esztergom County. Komárom fortress played an important role in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and many contemporary English sources re ...

in 1892 and remained there for five years. After a year abroad to study teaching methods in religious schools, she began teaching at the Pest Institute in 1898. She was controversially appointed director of the Buda Institute in 1907 as some thought her under-qualified. However she remained for the next decade. Geőcze was fired in 1917 and started teaching again at the Pest Institute shortly afterwards until her retirement in 1926. She died in Budapest two years later.Loutfi, pp. 154–156

Activities

Geőcze was one of the founders of the Mária Dorothea Association (), an organization dedicated to improving women's higher education, in 1885. Beginning in 1888, she published numerous articles on girls' education, foreign teaching methods and the "need for Hungarian pedagogical methods able to strengthen national identity and morality". "Throughout the 1890s, Geőcze began to lay greater emphasis on the role of women's education as a means of advancing Hungary as a Christian nation. By the turn of the century, she was seeking to protect women she thought morally and economically vulnerable—migrants, domestic servants, factory workers—through education and material assistance." During the Second National University Education Congress in Budapest in 1896, she lectured on women's education and employment.Loutfi, p. 155

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Geocze, Sarolta 1862 births 1928 deaths Hungarian feminists Hungarian women's rights activists Heads of schools in Hungary Socialist feminists