FOR the last of the photographs to mark Women’s History Month, this one is a tribute to all the women teachers past and present. The picture shows teacher, pupil teacher and pupils of Rockfield School near Monmouth in about 1900. Teaching was the career most open to women at the turn of the century, but even in the 1901 census only 8 per cent of women in occupations had a profession – and it was teachers who made up the majority. Women were still then not admitted to the church, law or accountancy. They also had to make a commitment to their profession. Many local authorities adopted a marriage bar. Women were forced to resign if they married and those already married were dismissed.