IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ehsrev/v74y2021i3p754-783.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Female teachers and the rise of primary education in Italy and Spain, 1861–1921: evidence from a new dataset

Author

Listed:
  • Gabriele Cappelli
  • Gloria Quiroga Valle

Abstract

This article provides the first harmonized quantitative evidence on the rise of mass education across the provinces (today's NUTS 3) of Italy and Spain in the period c. 1861–1921. Visual analysis of this new dataset suggests that an important factor linked to the expansion of schooling was the feminization of the teaching profession, something that has been largely neglected so far in quantitative historical studies of educational development. This hypothesis is put to the test using panel‐data models. The results show that the feminization of teaching went hand in hand with the rise of schooling rates by prompting more girls to enrol into primary education. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Italy's gross enrolment rate had surpassed that of Spain—partly as the result of increasing feminization within the primary‐school teaching profession.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriele Cappelli & Gloria Quiroga Valle, 2021. "Female teachers and the rise of primary education in Italy and Spain, 1861–1921: evidence from a new dataset," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(3), pages 754-783, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:74:y:2021:i:3:p:754-783
    DOI: 10.1111/ehr.13068
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.13068
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ehr.13068?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cinnirella, Francesco & Hornung, Erik, 2016. "Landownership concentration and the expansion of education," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 135-152.
    2. Claude Diebolt & Charlotte Le Chapelain & Audrey-Rose Menard, 2019. "Learning outside the factory: a cliometric reappraisal on the impact of technological change on human capital accumulation," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 775-800, July.
    3. Bertocchi, Graziella & Bozzano, Monica, 2019. "Gender Gaps in Education," GLO Discussion Paper Series 415, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Oded Galor, 2011. "Unified Growth Theory," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9477.
    5. David Mitch & Gabriele Cappelli (ed.), 2019. "Globalization and the Rise of Mass Education," Palgrave Studies in Economic History, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-3-030-25417-9.
    6. Go, Sun & Lindert, Peter, 2010. "The Uneven Rise of American Public Schools to 1850," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 70(1), pages 1-26, March.
    7. Jens Andersson & Thor Berger, 2019. "Elites and the expansion of education in nineteenth‐century Sweden," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 72(3), pages 897-924, August.
    8. Claude Diebolt & Audrey-Rose Menard & Faustine Perrin, 2017. "Behind the fertility-education nexus : what triggered the French development process?," Post-Print hal-03761574, HAL.
    9. Baten, Jörg & de Pleijt, Alexandra, 2018. "Female autonomy generates superstars in long-term development: Evidence from 15th to 19th century Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 13348, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Gabriele Cappelli & David Mitch, 2019. "Globalization and the Rise of Mass Education—Introduction," Palgrave Studies in Economic History, in: David Mitch & Gabriele Cappelli (ed.), Globalization and the Rise of Mass Education, chapter 0, pages 1-21, Palgrave Macmillan.
    11. Gabriele Cappelli & michelangelo.vasta@unisi.it, 2019. "Can school centralisation foster human capital accumulation? A quasi-experiment from early XX century Italy," Department of Economics University of Siena 802, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    12. Carmen Sarasua, 2019. "Women's work and structural change: occupational structure in eighteenth‐century Spain," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 72(2), pages 481-509, May.
    13. Graziella Bertocchi & Monica Bozzano, 2019. "Gender gaps in education," Department of Economics 0158, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    14. Oded Galor, 2011. "Unified Growth Theory and Comparative Development," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, issue 2, pages 9-21, April-Jun.
    15. Gabriele Cappelli & Michelangelo Vasta, 2020. "Can school centralization foster human capital accumulation? A quasi‐experiment from early twentieth‐century Italy," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(1), pages 159-184, February.
    16. Carlo Ciccarelli & Jacob Weisdorf, 2019. "Pioneering into the past: Regional literacy developments in Italy before Italy," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 23(3), pages 329-364.
    17. Peter Lindert, 2004. "Social Spending and Economic Growth," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(4), pages 6-16.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joerg Baten & Giacomo Benati & Sarah Ferber, 2022. "Rethinking age heaping again for understanding its possibilities and limitations," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(3), pages 960-971, August.
    2. Gutiérrez, José Manuel & Quiroga Valle, Gloria, 2023. "Gender gap and spatial disparities in the evolution of literacy in Spain, 1860-1910," MPRA Paper 116235, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gabriele Cappelli & Michelangelo Vasta, 2021. "A “Silent Revolution”: school reforms and Italy’s educational gender gap in the Liberal Age (1861–1921)," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 15(1), pages 203-229, January.
    2. Paola Azar & Sergio Espuelas, 2021. "Democracy and primary education spending in Spain, 1902-22," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2021/409, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    3. Monica Bozzano & Gabriele Cappelli, 2019. "The legacy of history or the outcome of reforms? Primary education and literacy in Liberal Italy (1871-1911)," Department of Economics University of Siena 801, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    4. Vitantonio Mariella, 2023. "Landownership concentration and human capital accumulation in post-unification Italy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1695-1764, July.
    5. Tomas Cvrcek & Miroslav Zajicek, 2019. "The rise of public schooling in nineteenth-century Imperial Austria: Who gained and who paid?," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 13(3), pages 367-403, September.
    6. Paola Azar, 2022. "Politics as a determinant of primary school provision: the case of Uruguay," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 16(2), pages 333-367, May.
    7. Adrian Palacios-Mateo, 2023. "Education and household decision-making in Spanish mining communities, 1877–1924," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(2), pages 301-340, May.
    8. Francesco Cinnirella & Erik Hornung, 2016. "Land Inequality, Education, and Marriage: Empirical Evidence from Nineteenth-Century Prussia," CESifo Working Paper Series 6072, CESifo.
    9. Marchingiglio, Riccardo, 2021. "Local institutions and public school spending under restricted suffrage: The case of post-unitary Italy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 1351-1373.
    10. Lehmann-Hasemeyer, Sibylle & Prettner, Klaus & Tscheuschner, Paul, 2023. "The scientific revolution and its implications for long-run economic development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    11. Ewout Frankema & Marlous van Waijenburg, 2023. "What about the race between education and technology in the Global South? Comparing skill premiums in colonial Africa and Asia," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(3), pages 941-978, August.
    12. James Foreman-Peck & Peng Zhou, 2021. "Fertility versus productivity: a model of growth with evolutionary equilibria," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(3), pages 1073-1104, July.
    13. Quamrul H. Ashraf & Francesco Cinnirella & Oded Galor & Boris Gershman & Erik Hornung, 2017. "Capital-Skill Complementarity and the Emergence of Labor Emancipation," Working Papers 2017-1, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    14. Alexandra de Pleijt & Jan Luiten van Zanden, 2021. "Two worlds of female labour: gender wage inequality in western Europe, 1300–1800," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(3), pages 611-638, August.
    15. Harka, Elona & Nunziata, Luca & Rocco, Lorenzo, 2021. "The Alabaster Ceiling: The Gender Legacy of the Papal States," IZA Discussion Papers 14719, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Cinnirella, Francesco & Hornung, Erik, 2016. "Landownership concentration and the expansion of education," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 135-152.
    17. Sascha O. Becker & Cheongyeon Won, 2021. "Jesus Speaks Korean: Christianity and Literacy in Colonial Korea," Rivista di storia economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 7-32.
    18. Youssouf Merouani & Faustine Perrin, 2022. "Gender and the long-run development process. A survey of the literature [Rethinking age heaping: A cautionary tale from nineteenth-century Italy]," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 26(4), pages 612-641.
    19. Cinnirella, Francesco & Schueler, Ruth, 2018. "Nation building: The role of central spending in education," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 18-39.
    20. Lindgren, Erik & Pettersson-Lidbom, Per & Tyrefors, Björn, 2020. "The Causal Effect of Political Power on the Provision of Public Education: Evidence from a Weighted Voting System," Working Paper Series 1315, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 29 May 2021.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:74:y:2021:i:3:p:754-783. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehsukea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.