Men have been taken as the Golden Standard to which women should be compared in a variety of areas. A generalization of results obtained in studies carried out in male populations applied to the reality experienced by women however does not seem suitable. This study investigated the hypothesis of the same gender differentials prevailing in the society being reproduced in the school environment, characterized by different duties and gender-related social valorization of the work. A cross-sectional study investigated 794 teachers (47 men and 747 women) from municipal schools in Vitória da Conquista, State of Bahia, Brazil. The women had a lower educational level than the men (p=0.001), have been teaching for a longer time (10.6 against 5.8 years; p=0.001), referred a higher number of work hours per week (p=0.02), had higher domestic workload (33% against 2.3%; p=0.0001) less participation in the decision-making process but attended a lower number of classes than the men (2.3 against 4.3; p=0.0001). With exception to alcohol abuse, women presented more frequently with health problems than men. We observed clear gender-related differentiations in the school environment, with women being engaged in less qualified activities.
Gender; School; Work; Health; Teachers
