Writing a gendered history of English language teaching in Italy, 1861-1922

After the Unification of Italy in late nineteenth century, state schooling was made partially accessible to girls, at the same time as women were granted some limited possibilities to become teachers in the new national education sector. This chapter draws on research conducted in the fields of the historiography of Italian education sector and the historiography of language teaching with the aim of delineating the broader historical context in which women’s careers as language teachers in post-Unification Italy can be studied. The first section reviews the debates concerning girls and women entering the new school system after 1861. The second section offers a more focused examination of the role and status, in the new hierarchy of Italian school teachers, of male and female modern foreign language teachers in the period between 1861 and 1922.