Women Who Taught: Perspectives on the History of Women and Teaching

Theresa F. Lewis is an elementary-school principal with the Calgary
Board of Education.

In the past, feminist theorists and historiographers have characterized
women’s experience as universal. Recently, it has become more
acceptable to analyze the female experience within its specific social,
cultural, racial, and material contexts. This collection of essays
distinguishes itself by providing a range of precedent-setting
perspectives on women in education in Canada, Australia, Britain, and
the United States.

In an introductory section, the editors note that the history of women
in education will continue to be limited in its ability to bring new
insights to the contemporary scene as long as historians persist in
telling the 19th-century story from a gender-stereotypical standpoint.
However, it is too easy to explain everything in terms of the powers of
patriarchy. Important nuances in female history are missed when such
history is not examined on its own merit. Themes that challenge such
stereotypical explanations and ideologies are organized into three
sections: Women and Teaching in the Private Sphere; Women and Teaching
in the Public Sphere; and Women and Teaching in Higher Education.

Women in the labor force was too large a conceptual leap for most
19th-century historians. Ideologically, it was more palatable to set up
parallel gender-laden constructs: the school was characterized as the
home; the class was considered the family; teaching involved nurturing
and instilling high morals—both designated as women’s natural area
of expertise. From this perspective, women could be paid a significantly
lower wage, for teaching did not constitute “real work.” The authors
in this book are successful in presenting several new considerations
through tracing the feminization of teaching; analyzing the merging of
public and private spheres; and exploring the evolution of women’s
roles in changing societies.

As noted in several of the articles, current dilemmas facing women in
education may have their roots in separate-sphere ideology. Improving
conditions for women in education will require a re-examination of data
already collected (using analysis similar to that which is presented in
this collection), as well as the inclusion of biographies previously
ignored.

This is an essential body of work that reframes the history of women in
education.