Giving Compass' Take:

• Although female teachers are underpaid in the U.S compared to their male counterparts, they play a critical role in student achievement, says Andre Perry, writing for The Hechinger Report. 

• How can donors support female teachers in the struggle for equal pay?

• Read about the explosion of women teachers in the U.S.

Given that teachers are charged with imparting the contributions of women to their students throughout Women’s History Month, a special place should be reserved during March for the women teachers who go unrecognized.

“You have teachers who give everything for children — sometimes spending more time than parents — but society doesn’t respect or pay teachers what they are worth,” Michelle Santos told the Hechinger Report. Santos is the director of journalism and media arts for the Richard Wright Public Charter School for Journalism and Media Arts in Washington, D.C. Santos began her teaching career in a facility for students found guilty of criminal offenses; in the nearly two decades since, she has been a teacher and administrator in various schools.

“It’s because we’re mostly women,” she explained. “Women’s work in general is undervalued.”

In our capitalist society, people’s worth is viewed as being linked to the salary they bring home. Women are overrepresented in the lowest paying jobs, and women in high-paying professions are paid less than their male counterparts, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Teachers who have gone on strike across the country over the last year and a half have made explicit demands for increased pay and better working conditions; their demands are inextricably linked to women’s frustrations with being undervalued.

Educational occupations with the highest concentration of women are among the lowest paid, according to a 2013 report published by the National Survey of Early Care and Education. Women represented 97 percent of the workers in center-based early childhood programs, which include school-based care, Head Start programs, and child care centers.

Read the full article about the value of female teachers by Andre Perry at The Hechinger Report.