[Mercat]

When I was in HS in the 60s, even a married woman couldn’t teach if she was pregnant.

[Tupelo]

Maybe it depends on where you were in the 60s. I had a Health teacher in the mid-50s who was pregnant most of the school year.

Boy did that keep us puberty ravaged boys interested in her subject matter.

[Verginius Rufus]

At one point, at least in some places, even a married woman who wasn't pregnant wouldn't be allowed to be a teacher.

I had a great-aunt who taught school after her husband died (not sure exactly when but maybe the 1920s or 1930s--she was born in 1881), but being a widow was different. Maybe the rule was there because of the belief that a married woman ought to be home keeping house.

[Nifster]

When In was in elementary school my first grade teacher got MARRIED and had to retire. And i went to a PUBLIC school

Times have changed a lot

[fatnotlazy]

” When I was in HS in the 60s, even a married woman couldn’t teach if she was pregnant.”

***

I once worked in a law office with an older woman. Her husband couldn’t work because of a chronic illness; so she had to be the sole breadwinner for herself, husband and their two small children. But at that time, even a married woman without children, had difficulty finding a full time job. During interviews, it was customary to ask whether the applicant intended to start a family or add to her family anytime soon. The reasoning was that the employer was investing a lot of money into the employee. The employer did not want to waste time and money on a new employee if she was going to get pregnant and possibly quit the workforce.