Eric Sager’s article “Women Teachers in Canada, 1881-1901” explores many variables that lead to the shift towards female teachers across Canada. The article offers detailed statistics that are almost an overwhelming amount of data that was hard to digest and comprehend. Sager covered the transition from a provincial level all the way to a national level with staggering amounts of numbers, charts and some firsthand accounts. Obviously very pertinent and valuable information for historians, however, perhaps it was too much information being analyzed in such a short document. The point of view became kind of lost in this article, although, there were many things that led to this shift of women in education. What seemed to jump out in this article was the typical “supply and demand” model. One example is that women were cheaper to employ, thus the demand for female teachers.[1] Other variables Sagar addressed were urbanization versus rural, the different family dynamics of different cultures to gender inequalities. Not to mention, 1881 to 1901 is a very large span of times with all the changes such as industrialization, and other economic growth factors. This author provided an abundance amount of evidence to the causes of feminization of teachers, “these included the growth of schooling, bureaucratization and institutionalization of the school system, financial constraints, urbanization, industrialization, gender stereotypes, and the relative availability of men and women in labour markets.”[2] Perhaps this was just too much information for a single article and would have benefited from narrowing the focus with the support of his well compiled census’, stats and personal accounts. A great article to read multiple times; just difficult to take in all at once. Whereas, the other articles were much more focused and gave a clear understanding of what the rural teachers in BC endured.

The article, “I Am Here to Help If You Need Me” by Donald Wilson doesn’t necessarily talk about the historical causes of the shift of feminization in teaching however, it gives great insight on rural female teachers on a more direct level which identifies the gender inequalities. The focus is very much on how the young female teachers did not always cope well in rural settings. He explained the inequalities that the female teachers experienced more so than the male counter parts. Also, the statistics provided showed out of 903 rural schools, 79% were women and 91% unmarried with that many young girls stationed in remote areas it isn’t surprising that issues would occur as the author explored these vulnerabilities.[3] The author shows that due to the isolation and without support these young teachers had to deal with unwanted advances, and bullying from school boards due to the lack of respect. All the while these teachers were expected to have a certain amount of decorum to hold up to and generally lived alone.[4] This well written article captures the female’s challenges of teaching in rural communities. Wilson uses minimal statistics to make a point and relies heavily on different accounts of teachers who endured difficult situations. The perspective from the female welfare officer was perhaps more sympathetic and understood the issues and worked tirelessly to encourage communication between these rural communities and young female teachers. The documentation from this female welfare officer was very informative and interesting.

In the article “Teachers’ Work: Changing Patterns and Perceptions in the Emerging School Systems of the Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth- Century Central Canada” by Marta Danylewyez and Alison Prentice examines young women in the occupation of teaching in Ontario and Quebec which gave much insight to the various problems they faced. These included the working conditions within the schools, the various hardship females endured as teachers physically and mentally, and the challenges focusing on the intensity of the contracts they were given. The authors focused on specific problems within public schools and broke them up into different sections so it abled the reader to comprehend the information easily. Expanding the curriculum during this time was a big step for public education as well as the cleanliness of the schools and working over the obstacles of how to improve the conditions for students as well as teachers. Danylewyez and Prentice compare the poor school environment with other areas of Canada as well as the United States which allows the reader to comprehend the various similarities and differences of issues these areas were withstanding.

 

Bibliography:

Danylewycz, Marta and Alison Prentice, “Teachers’ Work: Changing Patterns and Perceptions in   the Emerging School Systems of Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Central Canada,” Journal of Canadian Labour Studies, Vol. 17 (1986): 59-82.            http://lltjournal.ca/index.php/llt/article/view/2489/2892

Sager, W. Eric, “Women Teachers in Canada, 1881-1901,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012. 140-165.

Wilson, J. Donald, “I Am Here to Help If You Need Me,” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski       (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012. 201-222.

 

Endnotes:

[1] Eric W. Sager, “Women Teachers in Canada, 1881-1901,” Schooling in Transition: Reading in the Canadian History of Education, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012), 144.

[2] Ibid, 144.

[3] Donald J. Wilson, “I Am Here to Help If You Need Me,” Schooling in Transition: Reading in the Canadian History of Education, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012), 211.

[4] Ibid, 209.