The Mith of Care: An Allegory that Mediates Reflection on Teacher Feminization

This chapter uses the story of Cura as a metaphor to reflect on the feminization of the teaching profession in early childhood education. The author proposes that care, traditionally associated with the femininity, has been a structural component in the identity of teachers, reinforced by historical and social narratives that normalize the role of women as caregivers. Historical background is reviewed and it is evident how, even with legal advances and modern paradigms, a vision assigning women the responsibility of care and moral teaching from childhood persists. Myth thus becomes a tool to understand how this reality has been culturally configured. Furthermore, the role of the State in reproducing ideologies through teacher training is questioned and a deep reflection is proposed to destabilize the imposed norms. The chapter concludes with a critical look at the normalization of the female role in teaching and it proposes thinking about care as an axis of educational transformation, beyond its exclusive association with the femininity.