I think there might be some subscription trial I could use to check it out, I'll have a look. (One thing I miss about being a student, reading journal articles to my heart's content.)

Definitely, Austen was quite clear on how she felt about women and the education they were afforded-Anne Eliot's passionate defence of a woman's love being more constant than a man's due to the fact that she has few distractions/little to occupy herself with is a prime example for this.

I've read a bit about the backlash female writers experienced at the time and was impressed by the way William Godwin defended Mary Wollstonecraft in spite of society's disapproval. It's certainly something to make one feel grateful for many of the rights we take for granted these days!