Female Dimension of School Practices from the Second Half of the 1940s till 1980s
Abstract
The purpose of the research paper is to characterize the position of a female teacher in Soviet society by analyzing the educational level of women, to describe a teacher beyond school activity – as a public figure, a participant in the economic life of the Ukrainian SSR, and a woman.
The scientific novelty of the study is in the fact that the activities of a school teacher in the Ukrainian SSR of the specified period are analyzed from different perspectives – as a public figure, a woman, and a personality.
Conclusions. An active position of women in society requires modern historical science to rethink their status as individuals. The study of the place and role of women in the pedagogical process of the Soviet era of the 1940s – 1980s shows that teachers in the schools of the Ukrainian SSR during the specified period performed a large number of obligations and functions, the spectrum of which covered a wide range from social and political to personal. The vast majority of them were related to activities in educational institutions. From the second half of the 1940s to the end of the 1980s, the educational level of female teachers was increasing, which made it possible not only to demonstrate their support to the state but also to involve them in various fields and activities, using their powerful physical, intellectual, and psychological potential. Female teachers were deputies of local councils and the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR, and had the title of ‘Honored Teacher of the Ukrainian SSR’ and other awards. They were engaged in propaganda work and election preparation and were members of organizations and commissions. Along with that, they were also responsible for family and household chores. They mostly dissolved in public activities, forgetting about their own world. The state should support women since they perform influential social roles and functions and strive to realize their own visions on various issues, and therefore, their experience is valuable, especially if they are intelligentsia.
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