% of Teachers- Women

By 1865, around the close of the Civil War, women made up roughly one quarter of the teachers in the United States, and their share of the profession continued to grow steadily in the decades that followed. The spread of public, or common, school education across the country during the nineteenth century created a strong demand for teachers, and reformers increasingly argued that women were well suited to instruct young children. School districts also frequently paid women less than men, which encouraged their hiring.

The growing presence of women in teaching marked one of the earliest large-scale entries of American women into paid professional work outside the home. Teaching offered women respectable employment and a measure of economic independence at a time when most occupations remained closed to them. Over the following decades women came to dominate the profession, and the schoolhouse became an important avenue through which women gained education, careers, and a public role in their communities.