The occupational status of female teachers in the era of Reza Shah

Abstract

The change in the education system of the Reza Shah’s era under the discourse of the modern national government and as a result the growth and expansion of women's education with the aim of educating new Iranian women and mothers led to significant employment of women in the education system, especially as teachers. Valuable research has been conducted on the necessity of women's education, the development, of literacy, the development of girls' schools and teacher education during the time of Reza Shah, but less attention has been paid to the employment status of women teachers and the challenges they faced during this period. The main topic of this article is the employment status of female teachers during the era of Reza Shah. The answer to this question emerges from the quantitative and qualitative study of the training of female teachers, the increase and decrease of their numbers in schools, the employment conditions, their limitations and difficulties, the status of their rights, as well as gender differences and discrimination in this profession, relying on documents and some publications. This period has taken place.​ The findings of the research are based on the analysis of statistics and tables and show that the education of women was less important compared to men. This problem presents girls' schools and female teachers with the constant problem of lack of funds, low wages and gender discrimination in employment law. People's poverty and lack of financial ability to pay the small tuition fees of girls' national schools, especially in the states, and as a result, low salaries and a lot of work, along with the combination of employment outside the home with women's responsibilities at home, were other problems of female teachers, which sometimes led to their resignation.

Keywords

• girls' schools
• reza shah era
• female teachers
• women's education
• gender discrimination