Women In Canadian Education

Question Four

The early history of Canadian education became firmly established during the 19th century. Until that time, the family was the major setting of education for most children, and few had formal instruction from either tutors or in schools.

While the majority of teachers were primarily male at first, women began to move into public school teaching in the second half of the 19th century, and by the end of the 1800s, 77 per cent of teachers were women. The proportion of women in the teaching profession continued to grow into the early twentieth century, reaching a peak of 83 per cent in 1915 (Harrigan, 1992, 491); by 2000, that number had equalized somewhat, but women still occupied a significant 65 per cent of teaching positions

This changed in 1872, when British Columbia’s superintendent of education, John Jessop, declared that women should be educators of young children.

This was as much motivated by economic factors as it was liberal thinking on Jessop’s part; women could be hired at lower wages, saving taxpayers the cost of an expanding school system. As well, women were thought to be innately suited to caring for young children; teaching was considered an extension of motherhood, and so was considered an acceptable occupational pursuit prior to marriage. The change reflected an acceptance of women working outside the home, emphasizing their ability to nurture and educate children.

Once the economic benefit of hiring women was realized, special concessions were made to encourage their entry into the workforce. They were admitted to the normal schools in both Upper and Lower Canada, and in Upper Canada, the admission age was lowered to 16 years (the admission age for males remaining at 18 years). Women were also exempted from various examinations. These concessions worked to ensure that women would continue to receive lower pay and lower status (Prentice, 1977), with the majority of decision-making and power remaining in the hands of

Shakeshaft (1989) defines internal, or psychological, barriers as “those that can be overcome by individual change whereas external barriers require social and institutional change” (p. 82). Some obstacles have been addressed simply through the modernization of society (i.e., the normalization of women in the work force), but still others remain to be overcome.

Some common factors that will be examined are: a lack of experience or necessary credentials; a lack of confidence, motivation, and aspirations; gender discrimination, socialization, and stereotyping; and a lack of strong female role models. Women not only need to overcome the social conception of women as followers and men as leaders; they must also overcome their own internal attitudes and defy societal norms and values in order to step into administrative