Antebellum Literary Depictions Of School Women Becoming Teachers

A woman back in the nineteenth century was to be in the home all day cleaning, taking care of the children, and tending to their husband. At least that is what tradition told us. Never would one imagine a married woman in front of a class teaching, typically teaching was done by the men when farming season was done. Teaching was seen as a way to show wisdom and respect, but once a woman stood in front of that blackboard the views had changed. When a woman did teach it was viewed as untraditional and disrespectful, if one was married the female teacher was to either resign from marriage and leave the family or to resign from teaching. If a married woman chose to continue teaching, there was to be no life outside of the school and that female would receive little to no pay. Not paying the female teachers helped the countries when it came to filling teaching occupations, little did these men know, the women were using teaching as a way to have their voice heard and to show self-confidence.
Cummins, Amy. “An Honor to Be a Teacher”: Antebellum Literary Depictions of School women.” Women’s Studies (2009): 799-817. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 April 2016. This article is a great reference for why women would and did become teachers. Author, Amy Cummins a professor at Fort Hayes State
University, explains the growth and confidence women developed while teaching. The article mentions women using the school system as a way to educate not only themselves but the future these women were about to build, from building a voice to building a profession.
Tambouko, Maria. “Erasing Sexuality from The Blackboard.” Australian Feminist Studies 17.38 (2000) 135-149. Academic Search Complete Web. 27 Apr. 2016. This reliable journal entry allows the author, Maria Tambouko to let her readers fully understand just what exactly women were treated like and to what standards these women were held to. Within this article Tambouko explains the sexual standard of a woman teacher and how female teachers were to dress, look, and act in the schools’ systems. These rules helped the women find their voice to start a movement for women’s rights.
Redmond, Jennifer, and Judith Harford.
“One Man One Job’: The Marriage Ban and The Employment of Woman Teachers in Irish Primary Schools.” Paedagogica Historica 46.5 (2010): 639-654. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 April 2016. In this reliable academic journal the authors recognize the ban put in place for female teachers when coming to marriage. This ban was a way to help protect the image of a woman in the nineteenth century, a woman was viewed to be in the home helping manage while the husband was tending to crops and ranch needs. If a woman was to become a teacher that role is automatically thrown out this window, which is why this ban was put into
action. de Gabriel, Narciso. “The Entrance of Women into The Teaching Profession in Spain (1855-1940).” History of Education 43.3 (2014): 334-354. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 April 2016. This journal is a reliable resource that acknowledges the laws put in place for such female teachers. Within the journal one will find the supporting evidence for just why women teachers were given such rules like resigning from or resigning from teaching. With these laws in place there was a decrease in teaching occupations simply because it was frond upon for a woman to leave her family. Within this article author Narciso Gabriel states exactly what female teachers would live and be treated like if a married female was to remain as a teacher.