Educated and devout women: reforming catholic discourses and implementing modern feminine models in Teresina

Abstract

At the end of the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century, women were elevated to the status of allies of the Catholic Church, a point of support for developing a discursive practice aimed at building social order and combating the secularization of society. Aiming to capture women for the Catholic cause, the institution implemented strategies such as: the installation of denominational schools, religious association oriented to the female audience and the dissemination of prescriptive discourse, which defined behavioral parameters expected for modern women, framed in the profile of a Catholic woman. In the construction of the argument, we will use articles from newspapers that circulated in Teresina, literary works, statutes of confessional schools and also oral testimonies that helped us to understand the problem of women's education in that period.

Keywords

• mulheres. escolarização. catolicismo.