Making Caring Men's Work
Making Caring Men’s Work
On the 26th of October, the Men in Childcare (MiC) Network organized the hugely successful second annual conference “Gender and Caring, Men in Childcare” in Dublin.
The conference put the focus on issues of the gender imbalance within the Early Years sector and highlighted the importance of bringing more men into the lives of young children.
The present situation is not sustainable – we cannot leave ‘care work’ to unpaid or poorly paid women. Why? - one could argue that it is not right ethically. However, another reality is that women themselves are becoming increasingly involved in the labour force and they are beginning to move in on jobs that were previously carried out by men.
One reason why this is happening is that girls are increasingly outperforming boys in the educational system. In Denmark, as an example, this has become such an issue that their government feel it has become relevant to guide men into jobs that previously predominantly went to women; such as care work, but also beauticians, hairdressing etc.
Another upward trend in Irish society is what is referred to as “work life balance” and the keen interest that men are now beginning to show in relation to taking time-out from work in order to stay at home with their child or children. This fact does also reflect men’s willingness to take on the caring role.
The MiC network can show a number of examples where men, if they were encouraged to do so and supported in their decision, would take on caring work with children.
Research as carried out by Coomans (2002) shows that the training of the workforce remains an issue. Childcare in Ireland has no standardised minimum training requirements, which arguably leads to staff shortages and high turnover of staff.
So, what are the conditions required to bring about change in this area?
The present situation is undesirable regarding the needs of the boys and girls who attend day care services and also regarding the women and the few men who are working with these children as it sustains inequality, it excludes men and it limits diversity.
One could perhaps also argue that we are more acutely aware of issues around cultural diversity in this country than we are of gender diversity.
What are so the reasons why men stay away from the childcare profession?
From popular perception we tend to think about issues like:
- Poor pay and conditions
This issue, according to Moss (1999) among others, will need to be improved for both women and men, but is not seen as a significant factor alone as there are as many men with a strong social conscience as there are women, for example.
- Opposition from parents and women workers Studies by Owen (2002) shows that relatives and indeed childcare providers are overwhelmingly in favour of men as carers. As far as we know however, no research has been carried out on what children think of the issue?
- Fear of abuse
This is a possible factor, as the MiC network has come across stories of men who feel that fear of suspicion and distrust from others put them off going into a career in childcare thinking: “Why would I put myself in a position where I immediately would be mistrusted?” In this situation, it is important that we acknowledge that a possible threat can be countered by the current structures of complete transparency implemented in modern childcare services. Another important point here, is that we must be careful not to confuse issues of child protection with those related to the recruitment of men.
Written by
Ireland's leading Early Years education Magazine
