Gender and Caring
Peter Moss
Thomas Coram Research Unit
Institute of Education, University of London
• The gendered workforce
• Why is work with young children so gendered why are there so many women, why so few men?
• Why might we want to make the work less
gendered?
• How might we make the work less gendered?
The gendered workforce, UK 2001-2
Childcare workers
2.5% men
Nursery workers
1% (1991 = 1%)
Childminders
2%
School assistants
6%
Primary teachers
14% (1999)
Secondary teachers
45% (1999)
Care assistants (elderly)
9% (1999)
The gendered workforce, Denmark, 2000
Pedagogues
Nurseries (children 0-3 years)
2% men
Kindergartens (3-6 years)
6%
Age-integrated centres (0-6
years)
Nursery classes
9%
School-age children
24%
Clubs
41%
Pedagogue assistants
13%
3%
The gendered workforce
• Work with children gendered - not just childcare
• Gender related to children’s age - the younger the
children, the higher the gendering
• Work with elderly people gendered - need to take
broad view
• Workforce gendered in Scandinavia
Why is the workforce gendered?
1. Poor pay and conditions?
NOT major reason
Danish nursery workers earn twice as much as UK
Case for better pay and conditions applies to women
and men
2. Children seen as ‘women’s work’ Major reason
Substitute mothering, women have ‘natural’ ability to
care
3. Gendered work reproduces itself Supplementary reason
Recruitment, training, work assumes female
workforce
Why might we want the work less gendered?
‘Meeting the Childcare Challenge’ (1998)
English Department for Education
“Working with children is seen as a predominantly female
occupation. Yet male carers have much to offer, including
acting as positive role models for boys – especially from
families where the father is absent” (Para. 2.25)
Why might we want the work less gendered?
‘Men as workers in Services for young Children’ (1996)
Jytte Juul Jensen
For children:
 Educating children in gender equality – “children
do not do what we say they should do, but they do
what they see we do”.
 Children of single parents – ‘lack male figure to
identify with’
 Gender pedagogy
Gender pedagogy
“The fact that boys and girls are different in some
ways and choose different games and activities
gives different challenges to those employed –
both female and male. The daily pedagogic work
must take these differences into account if the
needs of both boys and girls are to be
covered…[This] can be more easily fulfilled by a
mixed-gender work group …A single-gender staff
group has greater difficulty in treating children
equally”
Why might we want the work less gendered?
For staff
• Improved staff cooperation
• Stimulates development of centre and its
culture
The provocation of difference
“The male culture can be a magic mirror
for the female pedagogue. As men have
other ways than women it will be necessary
to discuss routines, rituals, regulations and
so on. In this way employment of men can
be seen as providing a potential for
development in the centre and can be a
dynamic factor in the centre’s culture”
Why might we want the work less gendered?
Jytte Juul Jensen
For parents
• Parents positive
• Gets fathers more involved
For men
• Develop caring side
• Rewarding work
Why might we want the work less gendered?
‘Men in the Nursery’ (1999)
Cameron, Moss and Owen
• ?involve fathers more… BUT can work both ways
• ?value for boys, children from lone parent
families…BUT why not girls, do children from
lone parent families have no men in their lives?
• ?male role model…BUT essentialist view of
masculinity - is there only one way to be a man?
“I wear pink or something, my clothes are quite
bright, and their mothers wouldn’t put them in that
and they’ll say ‘Oh, you can’t wear that ‘cos
you’re – boys can’t wear that sort of thing.
I’d like to think I’m a role model that questions
the way men have to be…but I don’t consciously
go out to do that, maybe I’m rejecting the old sort
of stereotypes and role models that I had”
Why might we want the work less gendered?
Cameron, Moss and Owen
• Gender equality in practice - images of sharing
care for children, mothers, fathers, others
• Workforce diversity - “visibility of men and
women both as categories and in their infinite
variety”
• Making gender a visible and important issue children, parents, staff, others
• Rethinking work with children - separating it from
substitute mothering
Why might we want the work less gendered?
• With more formal services care of children will
become more gendered - men do more in the
home than in services
• Response to crisis of care: increased demand for
‘people workers’ (with children and adults);
reduced supply of women
Why might we NOT want the work less gendered
• Men ‘take over’ senior positions
• Men enter ‘safe’ spaces for women
• Fears of child abuse
– Very few verified cases
– Separate issues of men’s recruitment and child
protection
– Develop protection strategies for all
How might we make the work less gendered?
• Are there any examples of men entering
‘women’s’ occupations?
• Can we learn from women entering ‘men’s’
occupations?
How might we make the work less gendered?
• Sustained commitment and priority over (?10
+) years - no quick fix
• Involve all relevant organisations and institutions
• Policy, action plan, evaluate, review and
reformulate
• Examine existing practices for recruitment,
training, employment…develop practices for
women and men (e.g. differing career paths,
course content, concentrate men workers)
How might we make the work less gendered?
• Learn from experience … why has
Sheffield’s Children’s Centre been
successful?
• Discuss and discuss and discuss gender use every opportunity
• Rethink and reform the work - ?new ‘core’
profession for work with children (e.g.
pedagogue, ‘new teacher’)
References
Cameron, C., Moss, P and Owen, C. (1999) Men in the Nursery:
Gender and Caring Work. London: Paul Chapman Publishing
Jensen, J.J. (1996) Men as workers in Childcare Services: a
Discussion Paper (produced for the EC Childcare Network).
Brussels: EC Equal Opportunities Unit
Owen, C., Cameron, C. and Moss, P. (eds.) (1998) Men as
Workers in Services for Young Children: Issues of a Mixed
Gender Workforce. London: Institute of Education University of
London. (Available from Institute of Education Bookshop: order
by phone from 0207 612 6050; or online at
www.johnsmith.co.uk\ioe)