Building the ‘perfect’ Italian woman and mother: Discipline and accounting in the Reale Istituto Femminile della Santissima Annunziata in Florence (1865–1900)

Abstract

Female education in the nineteenth century was a multifaceted issue, related to social stratification, gender roles, and middle-class construction. In unified Italy, a country with a very high level of illiteracy, the experience of female schools is peculiar because of their cultural, historical, and post-Resurgence values and educational methods. This article, inspired by Foucault's approach to disciplinary institutions, is based on many primary and secondary sources. The role played by accounting in supporting the education process of a female school in Florence is shown in a detailed manner. The pupils, coming from the Italian middle and upper class, were educated not only in Italian, history, geography, drawing, calligraphy and maths, but also in foreign language, music, singing, dance, good manners and catechism of the Catholic Church together with household accounting, all what was necessary to build the ‘perfect’ woman and mother. To do this, the Florentine school distributed space and managed time, adopted tools related to admission policy, uniforms, and diet and applied examination rituals supported by punishment and rewards. The article adds its results to the literature about accounting and discipline in educational institutions.