A World of Petitions. Women Teachers before the National Board of Education and Parliament. 1886-1904

Abstract

This work examines the petitions submitted by some primary education teachers to the Argentine National Congress and the National Council of Education to obtain retirements, pensions, and allowances increases, between 1886 and 1904. Through its analysis, this research seeks to highlight the political significance of this way of demanding. These requests shed light on a series of labour demands that did not necessarily translate into strikes or highly publicized conflicts but reveal other ways and spaces to defend what was believed to be just, as well as a repertoire of possible actions within a specific time and place.

This article explores how these requests were accompanied by various information exchange gatherings, mutual support among petitioners, and pressure within Parliament. Additionally, it examines how these requests contributed to flexibilizing the margins of existing legislation and the management of these retirements. It studies how teachers leveraged relationships developed during their years in teaching with officials and legislators, as well as their ways of making presentations before Congress and the National Council of Education. Furthermore, it observes how they created, gathered, and preserved documents certifying their years of service and other work-related information.

The study integrates an analysis of these requests with various documentary sources such as national records of laws and decrees, congressional session records, educational reports, national and municipal censuses, sector-specific data sets. Using methodological tools from social history with a gender perspective, it aims to illuminate the relationship between women teachers' career paths from the capital and colonies and the acquisition of retirement pensions.