[Lilly]

Originally Posted by Caz

I'm doing a course on Equality and Diversity, and I have just come accross this during the process.


"Many of the ways that people are not treated equally in everyday life are due to power structures, stereotypes and prejudices that existed when the UK was a very unequal society. These are changing so the way people treat each other also needs to change.

In the past there were many jobs that women were not allowed to do and men and women were treated differently, for example a female teacher was not allowed to get married and keep her job, but a male teacher was. Female teachers therefore had to choose between being married and teaching and were stereotyped as unfeminine because they weren't married and didn't have children.

The unequal treatment of female teachers (not allowed to get married) affected their behaviour (did not get married) which reinforced the stereotype of them (unfeminine, not suitable for marriage). As teaching at one time was one of the few jobs that females could do, people associated educated/working women with being less feminine. This stereotype lasted for a long time."

The bit I have highlighted is the one that puzzles me. One wonders how far back in time they are going, because I can remember in the fifties a teacher at my infant school marrying and keeping her job. (Hannah St Infants...Miss Anson became Mrs Miller)

Would be interested in hearing from people older than myself (55) if they have any knowledge of this being the case.

I'm not older than you, I'm 31 so it's not something I personally remember but I do know that female teachers did have to stop teaching when they got married.

It was before your time, Caz, in the 1800s and early 1900s

I don't know when it ceased to be the case though.