Gender balance in ECEC: why is there so little progress?

Abstract

Social attitudes about male participation in the upbringing of children have changed considerably over the past few decades. Men are now seen as important for children's development and learning. Research from many countries worldwide shows that in early childhood care and education (ECEC), male workers are welcomed by female colleagues and parents. In the last two decades there have been initiatives for more men in ECEC in several European countries. Nevertheless the proportion of male workers ECEC remains low worldwide. This article questions the persisting gender imbalance in ECEC and analyzes ambivalences regarding more men in the field. Based on recent gender theory, efforts and limits of strategies for more male students and workers in ECEC in Belgium, Norway and Germany are discussed. It is concluded that deeply held gendered attitudes and practices in the field of care and educational work with young children have to be put into question. More space in ECEC for embodied subjectivities is needed to overcome essentialist conceptions of differences between body and mind, women and men.

Keywords:

• gender
• gender balance
• men in ECEC
• corporeality
• diversity

Notes

1. Different definitions result in remarkable different data. In Germany, the proportion of qualified workers in centers for 0- to 6-year-old children is around one percent lower than the data presented in the table, as the proportion of men is above average among interns, and also in after school care. In Norway, for many years governmental statistics highlighted the overall number of male employees in kindergartens, although many of them were ‘helpers' without any pedagogical tasks. When it was decided to focus on pedagogical workers, it came out that the proportion of males was about 2% lower (see Rohrmann and Brody, this issue).

2. A training course/workshop for the whole staff in a center