ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a more minute understanding of patterns of feminisation across the profession. It shows that the overall proportion of women in teaching fluctuates considerably across national contexts, as well as across levels of education, subjects and posts. The chapter highlights that women tend to be disproportionately excluded from the positions and roles associated with high financial and symbolic capitals. Women’s under-representation at the headship level is a widespread pattern, whose significance depends, however, on the national context and the phase of education. Disaggregating data by phase of education highlights some substantial variations regarding the presence of men and women in the teaching profession. Cross-national data about teachers, gender and subjects are hard to come by, for a number of reasons. Even when women are in the statistical majority, their numerical domination is not equated with their social domination, as they concentrate in the less valued and rewarded segments of the profession.
