Education and graduation of women in the Institute for Sciences and Arts of Oaxaca, 1888–1955

Abstract

The article analyzes the process of insertion, education, and graduation of women in the Institute for Sciences and Arts of Oaxaca (ICAO, its acronym in Spanish) from 1888, the year in which their admission was decreed, to 1955, the year in which the icao became the “Benito Juárez” University of Oaxaca. I argue that these 67 years constitute a period of vital importance to understand the way in which the female presence in the most important university in the state was consolidated. I also demonstrate how the female conquest of the professions in the Oaxacan entity did not occur through long careers, but through short ones, which were more widely accepted for being more practical, simple, and consistent with what is expected of women. My research is based on documentation from the Historical Archive of the “Benito Juárez” Autonomous University of Oaxaca.