The childcare sector in Ireland has the lowest representation of male workers in Europe -- less than one per cent. In this female-dominated sector, many children in childcare have no contact with men between 8am and 5pm.
In a society that is increasingly concerned with equality issues, we need to look at men in childcare as a viable option:
- Children benefit because men bring new ideas and ways of working into childcare.
- Fathers benefit because they have someone to relate to and may feel more at ease.
- Staff benefit because more gender-balanced staff teams give different ways of looking at issues and use different approaches.
- Having men working in childcare shows children that manliness can include caring.
May 25, 2009
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