Gender and Intersectionality: Female Strategies in the Teaching Profession in Brazil During the First Half of the Twentieth Century

The sisters Iracema Silveira (1900–1978) and Noemy Silveira (1902–1980) are the guiding thread of this narrative. Born in the interior of the state of São Paulo, they built a professional trajectory in which family ties, educational networks, care relationships, and international travels were intertwined and offered paths for understanding the strategies mobilized by women to remain in the teaching profession in public service and build careers in the first half of the twentieth century in Brazil, overcoming gender and disabilities issues. At the age of eight, in 1908, Iracema had an accident that affected one of her eyes. Visual impairment made school attendance difficult, which was overcome with Noemy’s help. The sisters completed their teacher training together and started their teaching careers together. The paths began to separate in 1927, when Iracema began her journey to become a school librarian, and Noemy embraced an ambitious training project that involved traveling to the United States, studying at the Teachers College of Columbia University, and taking up the Chair of Educational Psychology at the University of São Paulo. The story of these two women demonstrates the varied ways of occupying the teaching profession, the family strategies for career advancement, and the different possibilities of being a woman in Brazil.