Public Instruction on the “Female Sex” in Maranhão: In the Diretório Dos Índios and the Beginning of the 19th Century

Abstract

Public education for women in Maranhão is addressed, from the period that includes the publication of the Diretório dos Índios, during the Pombaline government, in the 18th century, to the beginning of the 19th century, from 1822 to the 1830s. The results indicate a need for greater attention to the effects of the publication of the Diretório dos Índios on female public schooling and record information about the first public female teachers in Maranhão in the 19th century. The study concludes by relativizing the current statement in historiography that attributes to the Lei das Escolas de Primeiras Letras [Law of First Language Schools], of 1827, the initial demarcation of female public schooling in Brazil.