Gender relations and feminization in the teaching profession: reflection on the sexual division at work

Abstract

Historically speaking, women have been increasing their participation in different professions and social places, as well as expanding political and economic decisions in society. In some fields, such as Basic Education, they have been the majority: both in the teaching profession, as in the teaching formation of such professionals. This phenomenon is called feminization and it is characterized by the majority occupation of women in a particular profession. This article aims to discuss the feminization process of teaching. In order to this happens, it was sought to understand the gender and social division of labor as well as the separation of public and private. After that, it was analyzed the motivations and factors that led women to leave their home and family environment to occupy public spaces. Then, a theoretical essay was developed having the narrative review approach as methodological strategy. It was found that the teaching profession emerged sometimes as the only possibility of migrating women from the private space to the public one, which contributed to the feminization of the profession. Due to the association of the profession with home reproductive work, the devaluation of education by the State has been extended, what presents and reinforces traces of the gender division of labor between professional categories.