Elizabeth Mary Jane Fish (22 December 1860 – 21 March 1944) was a schoolteacher and the first elected woman president of the

Educational Institute of Scotland The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) is the oldest teachers' trade union in the world, having been founded in 1847 when dominies became concerned about the effect of changes to the system of education in Scotland on their professional s ...

, the oldest teachers'

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

in the world.

Early life and education

Elizabeth Fish was born at 83 North Woodside Road in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland, in 1860. to Jane McNaughton and William Fish, a city missionary. William was chaplain at Sharp's Institution in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and it was here that Fish was schooled. Fish returned to Glasgow to become a pupil teacher, starting out at Henderson Street public school where she came first in Scotland in the Queen's Scholarship examination. Following this, she went on to study at the Glasgow Church of Scotland Training College. In 1885, Fish graduated LLA (

Lady Literate in Arts A Lady Literate in Arts (LLA) qualification was offered by the University of St Andrews in Scotland for more than a decade before women were allowed to graduate in the same way as men, and it became popular as a kind of external degree for women ...

) from St. Andrews University, studying French and Italian, for which she was awarded the Society of Arts medal.

Career

Between 1881 and 1895, Fish taught for the Glasgow School Board, teaching at Runford Street public school and Shields Road public school. She then went on to teach at the Pupil-Teachers Institute, Glasgow, from 1895 to 1907 before moving on to teach at Whitehill Higher Grade school and John Street Higher Grade school from 1907 to 1920. Fish also ran evening classes to help people who

stammer Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder characterized externally by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses called blocks in which the person who ...

and gave lectures in physiology and hygiene. She resisted calls from

eugenicists Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the ferti ...

to introduce "race improvement" into teaching and believed "sex hygiene" was a parental responsibility rather than something that should be introduced into the classroom.

Later years

Fish was president of the Scottish Modern Languages Association (SMLA) for two years and became principal teacher of Modern Languages at Bellahouston Academy in 1920 until her retirement in 1925. She was a leading public figure in Glasgow and held office in the Glasgow branches of the Class Teachers' Association and the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) as convenor of the EIS Central Ladies Committee from 1902 onwards. In June 1913, Fish was elected the first woman president of the EIS. She polled 4,822 votes compared with the other three male candidates whose combined votes totaled 3,068 votes.

Equal pay

In January 1914, Fish acknowledged that the question of

equal pay Equal pay for equal work is the concept of labour rights that individuals in the same workplace be given equal pay. It is most commonly used in the context of sexual discrimination, in relation to the gender pay gap. Equal pay relates to the full ...

was a controversial one for members of the Scottish and English Teachers' Associations and called for improvements to teachers' salaries during her presidential address at the annual congress. While condemning the low pay of women teachers, she argued that:

"If we teachers ask that the salaries of all teachers be now raised to the level of what men teachers think theirs ought to be, we shall alienate the sympathies of a public not yet convinced of the justice of our demand."

Death and legacy

Elizabeth Fish died in Paisley Infirmary on 21 March 1944 after a fall at home. She was 83. The next day, her obituary in the ''

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'' described Fish as "the champion of women teachers in Scotland".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fish, Elizabeth 1860 births 1944 deaths British trade union leaders British women trade unionists 20th-century Scottish educators 19th-century Scottish educators Scottish schoolteachers 20th-century Scottish women educators 19th-century Scottish women educators