Determined to prepare children for participation in a literate and disciplined work force, all three Maritime provinces dramatically expanded compulsory primary education around Confederation. Before 1850 teaching had been a predominantly male profession. But the balance soon shifted to favour female teachers, particularly in the lower grades. Teaching for women was thought to be another way station on the road to marriage and family; therefore they seldom had the career advancement opportunities available to male teachers.
The individuals in this group, the 1895-1896 graduating class from the Nova Scotia Teacher's College in Truro, would earn considerably less than male manual labourers. Nevertheless, teaching provided an outlet for women's undeniable intellectual capacity, and these women were more fortunate than most of their counterparts in the work force. Teachers often led the struggle for women's rights, including the campaigns for entry into male- dominated professions and for female suffrage. Trained as professionals but inhibited from fulfilling their potential, many resorted to social action as a means of improving their communities. (For details on the development of education and the professionalization of teaching see Canada's Visual History, volume 35, Children and Schools in Nineteenth-Century Canada.)
