Try writing your own analytical statement based on this passage. Then click the button below to compare your statement to the example. In the early 1800s, belief in the ideal of "Republican Motherhood" began to spread throughout the new nation. Proponents of this idea pointed out that American women bore great responsibility for the civic and moral lives of their families and, as a result, the nation's future. To raise good American citizens, they argued, women themselves had to be well educated. Although this idea still restricted women's role to domestic life, it led to new academic opportunities for girls and women. Higher education, however, was reserved for the daughters of the wealthy.

Eventually, greater equality for girls and women in general led to more American women receiving higher levels of education. By 1930, 44% of college students were women. By the year 2000, more American women than men were attending college and graduate school.