Feminization of Teaching

How Teaching Became a Women's Profession

Although the historical accounts of the increasing domination of teaching by women in the 19th century differ in their explanatory details, it is common knowledge that by the time universal elementary education was institutionalized in the United States by the end of the Civil War, women had become the overwhelming majority of elementary school teachers. Schools were expanding, and teacher education was becoming professionalized, just at the time that women were beginning to experience a loosening of the bonds keeping them at home. Over the course of the 19th century, according to historian Sarah Montgomery, marriage was happening later, fewer children were being born, and there were more single women than ever before. Men who taught tended to think of teaching as a stopgap—a short-term career on the way to something else. Women, however, welcomed the increasing demands for professional [Page 902]training entailed by the institution of normal schools and teacher education programs. Largely shut out of the other developing professions such as medicine and law and advancement in the business world, women sought a long-term professional career, one that would bring them financial independence, intellectual stimulation, and professional stature. Equally, if not more importantly, many writers emphasize that women would work for lower wages and were therefore much cheaper than men, a strong factor for publicly funded U.S. school systems.

Meanwhile, women's increasing domination of the profession was encouraged and smoothed by the pervasive ideology of the period, namely that women by their basic, nurturing nature were especially suited to the care and education of the young. The historical accounts of the feminization of teaching, though looking at demographic shifts, also consistently emphasize this aspect of the recruitment of women into the profession. This explanation continues today. Recently, for example, Sheelagh Drudy pointed out that among the education students she interviewed in Ireland, the idea that primary teaching was related to a mother's role was the most frequently offered explanation for the smaller number of male teachers.

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