Feminization of the teaching profession: A sociocultural analysis of the gender evolution of educational work in Germany

Historically, the teaching profession was pretty much a man's one in all cultures due to the universal traditional restriction of women's social status. However, between the 18th and the 19th centuries some girl schools appeared in the region; they gave girls not only general education, but also a governess or elementary teacher profession. The aim of the article is to determine the specificity of the gender evolution of the teaching profession in Germany that started in the beginning of the 19th century and significantly lagged behind in comparison with other developed countries. By analyzing various sources (like statistical reports, legislative acts of single German lands reflecting the organization of education in the 19th and 20th centuries, scientific studies, periodical press, memoirs and some fiction), the author sought to identify the leading factors and reasons which pushed girls to the teaching profession, to characterize the social status of German female teachers during the two centuries, to determine the dynamics of educational policy transformations caused by a complex set of conditions and contradictions in the German society. The basis of the study of teacher's work feminization was a sociocultural approach to present the process as a German educational phenomenon. The statistical method allowed to analyze quantitative data on the progressive increase of female teachers and staff transformations during some periods of political and economic changes. With the help of the systemfunctional method, the content of measures taken by the regional authorities in different periods to promote or counter the feminization of the teaching profession was studied. General scientific methods of analysis, comparison and generalization allowed to make scientific conclusions on the topic. As a result, it was determined that the gender image of the German teacher began to change from the beginning of the 19th century: more and more women appeared in the teaching profession, both nuns and laywomen. Women chose to become teachers under pressure from financial circumstances and public opinion, according to which educational work was considered as the only acceptable one for unmarried women from bourgeois families in conformity with the traditional understanding of women's social role. It is revealed that feminization of the teaching profession also caused development of vocational education for women. The study proves that such opportunities were created by the specifics of the economic and political situation in the country in separate periods of the 18th and 19th centuries. During two world wars and economic crises, women were dislodging men in the labor market, but the authorities opposed these processes for a long time and legislatively prevented the popularization of the teacher's profession for women. Poor financial situation of unmarried women, however, forced them to accept restrictive measures, and the number of female teachers was slowly increasing. Gender professional discrimination persisted until the 1950s both in the hiring of female teachers and in the organization of teacher education; and the study proved that it objectively could not be overcome earlier.

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