Democracy's Angels

The Work of Women Teachers

Kristina R Llewellyn author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:McGill-Queen's University Press

Published:26th Sep '12

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Democracy's Angels cover

A groundbreaking study of the limits that "democratic" ideals placed on the work of women teachers

Following the Second World War, women teachers filled a labour shortage in schools and Canadian newspapers rushed to feature their presence. One caption even called the teachers "pretty enough to send dad to school with junior." Envisioned as shining examples of "proper" femininity, female educators were expected to produce a new generation of housewives for a strong democratic nation. Democracy's Angels is a daring exploration of the limitations of that vision, which ultimately confined women to teaching a model of citizenship that privileged masculinity and reduced women's authority. In an analytical tour-de-force, Kristina Llewellyn unravels the ideological underpinnings of democracy as the objective for postwar education. Schools were charged with producing rational, autonomous, politically engaged citizens, but women were not associated with these qualities. Claims to scholarly knowledge, professional autonomy, and administrative positions were reserved for male teachers. Using rigorous interdisciplinary scholarship and extensive interviews with former teachers, Llewellyn reveals the ways in which women negotiated and even found opportunities within these troubling limitations. An unflinching look at the difficult realities of women's work experiences in postwar Canada, Democracy's Angels illustrates the intrinsic connections between gender, education, and democracy.

"This book illustrates beautifully the paradox of a school system (indeed a nation) that was intent on producing ideal 'democratic' citizens for a modern - though abstractly defined - democratic state while simultaneously denying women the full rights of the imagined democracy." Helen Raptis, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Victoria "Democracy's Angels provides a fascinating insight into Canadian women teachers' lives in a period not that well-trod by historians. Recommended reading for history students and teachers, those working on school reform and public policy in Canada, and on gender issues in education in general." History of Education Quarterly "Llewellyn is to be congratulated on this remarkable study - one which opens up new vistas for understanding the circumstances in which female teachers worked during the immediate post-war decades, and the ways in which they served, and resisted, the interests of the elite in promoting "proper" forms of citizenship among high school students of the times - "democracy's angels" indeed! " Histoire sociale / Social History

ISBN: 9780773540507

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

216 pages