‘Work hard, play hard, drink hard’: frontier masculinities and female teachers’ experiences in a regional Australian mining town

Teacher attrition is a significant issue that has been the subject of much recent critical research and public debate. What is less often explored in the literature is the gendered nature of teaching and the unique struggles female teachers face in the workforce, particularly in remote, regional and rural (RRR) schools. As a historically female-dominated profession, women, particularly teacher-mothers face a distinctive set of barriers to career progression in these schools. We apply a critical feminist lens to qualitative data generated from interviews with 21 teachers from 6 different schools in RRR locations in Western Australia. Data reveals a toxic intersection between teacher attrition and frontier masculinity. Our research has significant implications for education policy in the context of teacher attrition as it sheds light on why dedicated female teachers reluctantly leave the profession because of a lack of opportunity for themselves and their families.