Virginia Schools in the Great Depression

When the Depression began, women made up a significant majority of Virginia’s teachers. During the 1929/1930 school year, approximately 15,000 women made up 88% of all Virginia teachers. Despite making up this large majority of teachers, however, the expectations of women in teaching positions were different than the expectations for men. In particular, women teachers were expected (and required in some districts) to leave the schools when they got married and some schools refused, either as a policy or as a practice, to offer jobs to married women teachers. When the Depression began to affect Virginia public education through decreased funding, one response was to discriminate against married women teachers by compelling them to leave teaching, with the justification that as married women, they should have husbands who could support the family, while their salaries would be better allocated to unmarried women or, best of all according to this way of thinking, to married men whose teaching salaries could support a whole family. Yet these perspectives and policies were not universally accepted. Many school districts allowed for the employment of married women teachers, and these policies were upheld even in this time of acute financial crisis as the strategy that would keep the most qualified teachers in the school.

Public opinion also entered into this dispute, as proponents and opponents of so-called marriage bars debated which approach was better for schools, for teachers, and for children. According to a 1932 survey published by the National Education Association, the following arguments against the employment of married women teachers were cited most commonly:
1) married women were inefficient because they were distracted by family needs and thus missed school time or were unable to pursue professional development;
2) by teaching full-time, married women neglected their own families, which did long term damage to the development of the next generation; and
3) the husbands of married women teachers provided the needed financial support for the family, and thus these teachers were taking positions away from men or unmarried women who needed this income more.

According to this same survey, the following were the most common arguments in favor of the employment of married women teachers:
1) married women teachers with children were just as efficient as other teachers, and those with children brought additional experience and commitment to this kind of service;
2) married women teachers did not neglect their own families, and the additional stimulation of teaching actually made them better mothers and wives; and
3) the school should employ the best teachers available, and not exclude categories of women based on perceptions of their natural or preferred roles.

As you read the sources contained in this module, think about which of these opinions were shaping school officials as they made decisions about employing teachers, how women teachers themselves described their commitment to teaching, and how public opinion about married women teachers related to other sources of concern during the Depression, such as widespread unemployment, declines in public funding, and the importance of educating young people. Other evidence in the module provides different perspectives on women teachers’ roles in Virginia schools, as they illustrate the relationship between perceptions of teachers and the structures of the teaching profession related to length of tenure, salaries, and performance evaluations.

The questions of whether women teachers should be required to leave teaching when they got married and whether school systems could offer positions to married women teachers attracted considerable attention during this period. According to the most thoroughly researched study of married women teachers in Virginia, which was published in 1934, there had been a gradual increase in these restrictions on married women teachers during the last decade, with an especially sharp rise during the years since 1928.

As a result, the proportion of married women among teachers declined, while marriage itself accounted for approximately 33% of the turnover within the profession. In the conclusion, which is included as the final piece of evidence in this module, this study argued that “This study produced no evidence that justifies a policy of discrimination against married women teachers as a class. If any relationship exists between marital status and teaching effectiveness, such relationship is without adequate significance to justify its use as a determining factor in fixing employment policies.”

To what extent do the evidence materials, in light of this conclusion, provide an answer to the question: Who should teach?