Women and ‘Traditional’ Work: A Case Study of Teaching

Abstract

This chapter presents a mirror image case study to that presented in Chapter 4, in which female participants’ commentary on fire fighting as an occupational choice were explored, and contrasted to that of women who had already chosen fire fighting. In this chapter, discussions of teaching as an occupational choice will be explored. The same sample of participants in full-time education provide the data for those not yet in work and therefore still in the decision-making process (the ‘education group’), and their commentary will be contrasted with that of teachers and prospective teachers, who have already selected the role. The chapter begins with a brief presentation of some ‘facts’ about the teaching role. It will then review the girls’ and women’s commentary on their most commonly targeted employment areas, before exploring their expressed ideas in more depth in the context of the case study occupation.