Kindergarten teachers around 1900 in Hungary

Abstract: The 1891 Act on Childcare stipulated that kindergartens could be operated by qualified childcare workers, or, in their absence, childcare assistants. This act was a recognition of an established practice, given the fundamental changes that had occurred in the childcare society between the mid-1870s and 1890. During this period, male childcare workers were gradually replaced by kindergarten teachers. This transition was expedited and facilitated by several factors. On the one hand, Károly P. Szathmáry is credited with the idea that female labour was natural in kindergartens and reading the contemporary discourses on childcare shows that he was indeed one of the most persistent supporters of placing kindergarten education in the hands of women in our country. Conversely, the dismal remuneration offered to kindergarten educators has contributed to the expeditious attrition of males from the field of childcare.