Men in ECE

Why are there so few men in ECE? I believe that it is a complex and fascinating phenomenon. I am a man who has been teaching for over 25 years and have not seen a significant increase in the number of men in the classroom. I attend national conferences where I am among the few men in attendance. At workshops designed to support men in ECE, I hear men tell their stories of why it is hard for them to stay in the field. Low wages and hostile working environments seem to dominate the conversation. While I agree that the wages are low, this fact has not deterred women from making sacrifices in their lifestyles and with their families to persue this career path. Wages should be higher in the field because teachers need to eat, not because they are men or women. Sometimes I feel that our country is stuck in the mindset of a 1950's sitcom where men are the breadwinners and women have little trivial jobs to fill their time. It is not a good enough excuse for me, and I feel embarassed for my gender when I hear men express this opinion.
I do, however, believe that the Early Childhood Education field can be a hostile and intimidating place for men. Flashback to the 1950's movie where the flustered father is useless when it comes to comforting a crying baby and has to be "saved" by the mother who takes the infant from him and miraculously, the crying stops. Parents as well as teachers often question why a man would want to work with children. they are suspicious of men's motives and defer important questions about their child to a female teacher. We are warned, "for our own safety," not to be alone with children and not to take children to the bathroom, we are even forbidden to hold children in our laps in many settings. This, to me, is a good enough reason for men not to join this field.