I personally believe that children need to see both male and female teachers and most importantly they need to see them working together. The situation on how this situation can be changed is more complex. I have asked this question myself. A university adviser told me that many men try early childhood education but move on to other professions because of the pay. She said that men like to be seen as the breadwinners for their families and in our field often times good paying salaries are difficult to come by when compared to other careers with similar levels of education. The other situation I have also noticed is that some people still see early childhood educators as babysitters and that is not a role that is traditional for men. I think we need to be more inviting of diversity in our profession so that we may get a better mix. It’s difficult but a little recruiting at a time will help.
I hope we can hear from other member’s ideas.