The role of public organizations in improving the maintenance of women’s gymnasiums and progymnasiums in the Transbaikal region at the end of the 19th - early 20th century

The article analyzes the role of public organizations in improving the maintenance of women's gymnasiums and progymnasiums in the Transbaikal region at the end of the 19th - early 20th century. Based on the introduction of new historical material on the Transbaikal region, the activities of public organizations and individual citizens aimed at improving the sanitary-living and organizational-methodological functions in women's gymnasiums are considered. The 1897 general census of the Transbaikal region's population showed the active participation of women (10.4%) not only in educational, medical, and sanitary-hygienic institutions but also recorded positions in administrative-judicial-police, public-class, postal-telegraph-telephone, and other services. This indicated a demand for women's labor and led to a reassessment of women's roles in society. Consequently, all these types of occupations required a certain level of education, with elementary literacy skills often being insufficient.