Women Teaching Women: The Impact of Gender and Religion on Training Teachers in Colonial Africa

Finnish women missionaries have made a major contribution to the training of women teachers in Ovamboland, the northern part of present Namibia. In this paper I examine how African women teachers perceive the impact of Finnish teachers on their career development and their role in society. Data was gathered in Namibia in 1999. Results reveal that missionary women have played a significant role in the process of creating a new social category, that of a career women in the Ovambo society. The example of missionary women has contributed to adopting the idea of building the nation as an essential part of being a teacher. In this process religious legitimization of new ideas and practices has played an important role