Reflections on the processes of feminization and professionalization of the Mexican rural teaching profession in the period of National Unity

Abstract

During the Government of Manuel Ávila Camacho (1940-1946), a policy named National Unity was promoted, which called for internal agreements in order to strengthen the State in the context of World War II.  For rural education it meant an important turn to the Right, a setback in the reformists, socialists, feminists and agrarian policies of the Cardenista period. In this article, the background and educational challenges of professionalization of rural teaching are analyzed. Also, the unionization controlled by the State is made visible as well as the precariousness and feminization of teachers. In this context, female teachers in rural areas were fundamental for literacy and pacification of the country. In this sense, data on the feminization of rural teaching is provided, such as analytical frameworks in order to understand these processes in the light of national unity ideologies; and teachers’ narratives, recovered from their personal files, which demonstrate the implementation of these policies in the lives of female teachers of rural areas.