MUJERES, TRABAJO Y EDUCACIÓN A PRINCIPIOS DEL SIGLO XX: LAS MAESTRAS EN LA PRENSA CATÓLICA DEL SUDOESTE BONAERENSE ARGENTINO

Abstract

The figure of the teacher holds particular significance for Catholics, as it encapsulates key issues faced by the Catholic Church at the end of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th. These include the rise of secularism in public education, the emergence of paid work for women outside the home, and the expansion of secondary education for women. This article aims to identify the arguments Catholics used to evaluate the teaching profession, drawing on press publications printed in Bahía Blanca and circulated across the southwest of Buenos Aires Province, the federal territory of La Pampa, and northern Patagonia during the early 20th century.

Through a gender-focused analysis of the press discourse, the study reveals that despite the advancement of secularism, Catholic narratives contributed to shaping teaching as a feminine vocation rooted in maternal qualities. While these ideas did not aim to challenge gender hierarchies, they did support certain shifts in women’s roles—such as legitimizing access to higher education, paid employment, and the right to organize.

First, the article reconstructs the specific context of teaching as a female profession in the southwest of Buenos Aires Province. Then, it analyzes the perspective on teaching conveyed by the Catholic press, showing how religious discourse both resisted and subtly enabled changes in women’s social positions.