Society for Promoting the Training of Women

The Society for Promoting the Employment of Women (later renamed the Society for Promoting the Training of Women) (SPEW later SPTW) was founded in 1859 by Jessie Boucherett. Its aims were to open up new areas of employment for women and to improve the very low standards of education prevailing at the time. In its early years SPEW was affiliated with the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science (NAPSS), but it was run and largely funded by women. Connections with NAPSS were severed finally in 1889, although formal links between the two societies virtually ceased after 1879. The English Woman's Journal, founded the previous year became its official organ. The society kept the first register of employment for women. It founded the first printing press to employ women exclusively, the first book-keeping class for women, classes in shorthand, law copying and photography, and a commercial school, these being only a few of the areas in which the society pioneered improvements in women's employment and education. The society became a limited liability company in 1879. By the early part of the twentieth century, the idea of training schools and courses was well established and it was considered that the society's work in that direction had achieved its end. The society began to phase out their vocational training programmes in favour of providing women with interest-free loans to enable them to undertake suitable training for employment. The Board of Trade and Charity Commission required that the society show that it existed to 'train' rather than 'employ' women in order to conform with charity rules. Thus, in April 1926, the organisation voted to change the word 'Employment' in its title to 'Training'. The society remains active to the present day.