I have come across an interesting book about the connections between the feminist movement of the twentieth century and improvements in the teaching profession, and consequently, in the lives of millions of women who have and who will teach school in this country.
I have come across an interesting book about the connections between the feminist movement of the twentieth century and improvements in the teaching profession, and consequently, in the lives of millions of women who have and who will teach school in this country.Patricia Carter’s ‘Everybody’s Paid But the Teacher’ examines the complex connections between the women’s movement in all its varying aspects and the female-dominated job of teaching the country’s children. Briefly put, Carter shows that feminist action created a strong foundation and impetus for improving the material existence of those who stand before blackboards for their living.
Carter reveals the significance of the feminist link: “By the time women won the right to vote in 1920, nearly 5 million participated in some sort of women’s organization. Over 50% of urban women teachers or former teachers claimed membership in a club aligned with some aspect of the women’s movement.” She demonstrates that the suffrage and post-suffrage movements acted as boosters to the profession’s goals for its members and were indispensable as organizing factors and examples of positive change that could be achieved.
Perhaps the best way to view this book is as a loose blueprint for action within the library community—another female-dominated profession with old burdens to shake off. The problems of insufficient pay and control over the workplace are practically identical to those of teachers before the attainment of consciousness and coordinated striving. What we lack is the connection to an ideal larger than the work at hand or the interests of the moment. Our grandmothers understood their struggle as a debt owed to daughters yet unborn; toward what greater goal do we strive?
“Everybody’s Paid But the Teacher”: The Teaching Profession and the Women’s Movement, By Patricia Carter, ISBN: 0807742066
http://store.tcpress.com/0807742066.shtml
Michael McGrorty
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