The popular picture of traditional corporal punishment often centres upon a male headmaster.
The survey shows that this picture is incomplete.
Headmistresses, deputy headmistresses, senior mistresses and female classroom teachers could all exercise considerable disciplinary authority.
The Headmistress
One respondent recalled being caned by a headmistress at the age of ten in 1954 after fighting in the playground.
The punishment was formal and took place in her office.
He regarded it as effective and stated that he did not repeat the offence.
The significance of this account is straightforward.
The authority belonged to the office rather than to the sex of the person holding it.
The Senior Mistress
An especially interesting sequence comes from a grammar-school pupil whose school career began in the early 1960s.
During his third week at the school, at the age of eleven, he was caught by the senior mistress after being sent out of class for repeated talking.
She took him to her office and dealt with the matter herself.
A year later, she again dealt with him after repeated failure to complete homework.
On that occasion the punishment was more severe.
The same senior mistress therefore exercised an established disciplinary authority over both boys and girls.
Female Classroom Teachers
Female classroom teachers could also administer corporal punishment.
The Lancashire primary-school account describes female teachers using the cane for talking and other classroom offences.
Another grammar-school account records a female teacher dealing formally with a pupil for cheating.
Thus corporal punishment by women was not necessarily confined to girls’ schools.
Authority Rather Than Gender
What appears most significant is that pupils usually describe these women in terms of their position and reputation.
The senior mistress was feared because she was the senior mistress.
The headmistress possessed authority because she was the head of the school.
A strict female teacher could be regarded with precisely the same caution as a strict male colleague.
An Incomplete Historical Picture
Evidence concerning girls remains less plentiful in the survey than evidence concerning boys.
We should therefore be cautious about attempting detailed comparisons.
But the material is sufficient to reject the idea that corporal discipline was exclusively a male activity.
Women participated in the disciplinary systems of the schools represented here both as classroom teachers and as senior figures of authority.
