Past Pupils of 12 leading girls’ schools 20 times more likely to reach top positions in society
England (Commonwealth Union) – Across the world many individuals from less wealthy and less connected backgrounds have felt left out and, in some instances, may not even apply for top jobs feeling that it may be reserved for persons from more privileged backgrounds and from elite schools.
A historical analysis of Who’s Who by the University of Exeter, the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has found that Past pupils of 12 leading girls’ public schools have a twenty times higher chance to be in the most powerful elite positions in British society in comparison to women attending other schools. The analysis explored past and present influence of twelve of the nation’s most elite girls’ schools, such as Cheltenham Ladies’ College, North London Collegiate School and St Paul’s Girls’ School in London.
The schools were marked as the most ‘elite’ at the start of the project as they were historically among the most successful in having their past pupils in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The study also explored the power of the wider network of approximately two hundred private schools represented by the Girls’ Schools Association.
The paper, Is there an old girls’ network? Girls’ schools and recruitment to the British elite, evaluated 120 years of biographical data from Who’s Who to examine, for the first time, if private girls’ schools have the same effect on the direction of women to elite positions as prominent private boy’s schools do so with males. What was revealed was that although alumnae had twenty times more likelihood to be in the most powerful elite positions, these elite girls’ schools have been consistently less propulsive in comparison to the male-only counterparts.
“These results illustrate that elite girls’ schools are also important engines of inequality,” said Professor Sam Friedman of LSE, co-author of the paper.
