"The girls' school”: reflections on student feminization at FAFIL / FUNM in the 1960s

Abstract

This article aims to discuss some aspects of the student feminization process, based on the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters - FAFIL, part of the Fundação Norte-mineira de Ensino Superior - FUNM, in the 1960s, as an illustrative case. The documentary investigation, in primary sources, privileged the first five years of operation of the aforementioned higher education school, with a focus on incoming students, through the lists of entrance exams for that period. There is a female predominance in the search for Pedagogy, over others courses like Literature, History and Geography, until 1967, and also in Philosophy, Social Sciences and Mathematics, in 1968. Such imbalance triggered some reflections about the motivations of such a social and educational reality in the north of Minas Gerais, understanding that the gender category can contribute to its understanding. It is noted that, in this case, there is the establishment of a direct relationship between the characteristics of the job and the alleged characteristics of the worker, thus associating alleged female characteristics, such as childcare, close to a maternal figure.