Gender equality in the teaching profession: A cross-national comparison

Gender inequality in the teaching profession has attracted limited concern from researchers and policy-makers alike. In England and France, the two countries where the fieldwork was conducted, the view that teaching is a relatively egalitarian profession, which offers broadly similar career opportunities to men and women, is widespread.

Drawing on a social constructivist and feminist framework and on a multi-level approach which closely articulates the societal, professional and individual levels, we question such a view of the teaching profession (Moreau, 2011). This approach, combined with the analysis of sixty semi-structured interviews with secondary school teachers, highlights that, despite the statistical feminisation of teaching, women tend to concentrate in the less prestigious and rewarded segments of the profession. Women teachers are also more likely than men teachers to take career breaks and to go part-time.

While these patterns apply to France and England, there are also some significant cross-national variations. In particular, French women teachers are more likely than their British counterparts to adopt ‘male’ patterns of employment, even when they have children. We argue that this is due to the more extensive family-friendly provision in place in France, as well as to the higher level of autonomy of French teachers in relation to time management. However, the higher level of gender equality in the workplace noted in the French case is not reflected in the domestic and private arrangements of the teachers we interviewed in this country. We suggest that this is related to the gendered use of non-teaching time among French teachers, with women more likely than men to use it for domestic and care purposes. This, in turn, highlights the importance of a multi-faceted policy intervention to tackle gender inequality.