Women And The Politics Of Education In Third Republic France Av Linda L. (Professor Emerita Of History Professor Emerita Of History Millersville Unive

In Third Republic France (1870-1940), the directrice of a normal school (¿le normale) for training women teachers was the most important woman representative of public primary education in each department. Her role was central to the republican educational project designed to bolster the establishment of a stable democracy after the Franco-Prussian War. The laicization of public education figured prominently in republican efforts to combat the oldalliance of ¿throne and altar¿ favoring monarchy and religious instruction in public schools. Although laymen taught most boys in public schools by 1870, many nuns staffed separate girls'' public schools. Thus an 1879 law mandated new departmental normal schools to train lay women teachers.This study of 313 normal school directrices between 1879 and 1940, an important group of professional women not previously studied, explores the challenges they encountered and their responses. Often the target of political hostility, they defended republica