Are Older Women Teachers Different?

Abstract

Most teachers are women, and most older teachers are women. Does this group of educators comprise a distinctive population in terms of their own growing older and/or in the ways they teach and participate in school affairs? Low status is associated with being older, being female, and being a teacher. When combined, there are some expected stresses and problems not encountered by male counterparts. The double pressure of job and family for a woman in midlife often produces personal crises since work situations do not respond to these pressures on women. Unfortunately, research on age and teaching is almost nonexistent and there is very little on gender and teaching. Despite much negative commentary about women teachers in the educational literature, there are no studies showing women teachers to be less effective than men at any age. More study is needed to determine the impact of age, sex, and work on performance and quality of life. Meanwhile, school systems could be more responsive to the stresses older women face as well as the ways in which women use the workplace.