Mathematics, science and English might be what we consider the core elements of a good education today, but back when women won the right to vote, learning to bake the perfect scone was considered an essential for girls...Find out more in the latest episode of Beyond Kate.

A four-year-old girl twirls around at home in front of the TV. She's wearing a pink and purple fairy costume, a glittery pink headband and a pair of pink plastic Mary Jane jelly sandals with purple glitter hearts on the top of them.

She's a girly-girl who refuses to wear the colour blue. She likes horses and owns half a dozen My Little Pony figurines. And when she grows up she wants to be...a princess, of course.

But where do children learn to differentiate their identity as male or female, and how has education contributed to the lives of girls - shaping their roles and careers into adulthood?

In the late 19th and early 20th century, both girls and boys had access to education. Missionaries were heavily involved in setting up schools in New Zealand and for many new young settlers, educating their children was a priority, according to Dr Charlotte McDonald, Professor in History, Political Science and International Relations at Victoria University.

"One of the features of New Zealand in the 19th Century was that schools were important and all over the place," says McDonald.

New Zealand had an egalitarian approach to schooling right from the outset. Settlers had come from all over Europe, and in many instances, had limited access to education back home.

Making a new life in New Zealand, meant being able to take a progressive approach to setting up schools and universities.

The first university was founded in Otago, twenty years before women gained the right to vote in New Zealand.

"The University of Otago was set up with the possibility of young men and young women attending," says McDonald.

Otago also granted opportunities for young women to not only attend the university, but also gain a degree, which was not the case in England during the same period.

But although education was accessible and the prospect of gaining higher qualifications looked good on paper, the reality played out quite differently.

McDonald says many people questioned the need to educate children beyond the age of twelve.

"Surely you knew enough by the age of twelve to go off and do things," she says.

Sending children to school was expensive, and beyond primary school it was more economical to keep them at home to help with chores, or even send them out to work.

Education then and now is about preparing children for the future. And during the 19th and 20th century, much of that life for women centred around the home…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details