The gendering of men in early childhood education
Author: Sex Roles: A Journal of Research

To say an occupational field is "gendered" means that at least two conditions likely exist. First, it means there is a significant "skew" (Kanter, 1977) to the gender distribution of the employees; at least 85% are men or women. Second, the work itself is typically imbued with gendered meanings and defined in gendered terms (Kessler & McKenna, 1978; Leidner, 1991). Research questions associated with gendered occupations are most often framed by the general idea that the organizational or occupational culture acts to gender those embedded in it. This means that incumbents are forced to do gender (West & Zimmerman, 1987) in prescribed ways that ultimately support and reproduce an organizational "gender regime" that is in line with the "gender order" of the larger society (Connell, 1987).

Acker (1990, 1992) proposed a theory of gendered organizations in which she outlined a set of four overlapping processes involved in creating and maintaining gendered organizations. Although the focus of her theory, and of most work that has since been based on her theory, was male-dominated occupations and organizations, the theory should also be applicable to occupations that are considered women's work. Acker theorized that the four sets of processes involved in the production and reproduction of a gendered organization are: (1) "symbols, images, and forms of consciousness" that create and justify gender divisions; (2) differential structural location of women and men; (3) "the internal mental work of individuals as they consciously construct their understandings of the organization's gendered structure"; and (4) the interactions among individuals (Acker, 1992, pp. 252-253). These four processes provided a framework in which to conceptualize early childhood education (ECE) as a gendered occupation and with which to organize and analyze the data I obtained in my interviews with men and other key personnel in ECE. In this study, I use ECE to represent the fields of childcare, preschool, and primary school (K-3) teaching.

A TYPOLOGY OF MASCULINITIES

A theory of gendered organizations can help us to examine the context of a given organization or occupation, but we also need a model of multiple masculinities to help us understand the ways that men ultimately live out their gendered lives within a specific social milieu. Men are not homogeneous in the way they present or perform their gender. Instead, their performance is affected by the demands of the larger gender order and by the gender context of their immediate social landscape.

Connell (1995) identified four ways in which men engage with existing gender relations within a social organization. He termed these four performances of masculinity hegemonic, subordinate, marginalized, and complicit. Hegemonic masculine practices are those that serve to normalize and naturalize men's dominance and women's subordination. Subordinate masculinities are those behaviors and presentations of self that could threaten the legitimacy of hegemonic masculinity. Gay men, effeminate men, and men who eschew competition or traditional definitions of success are examples frequently cited. To this list I would add men who care for children. These men are vulnerable to being abused and ridiculed by others. Marginalized masculinities represent the adaptation of masculinities to such issues as race and class. For example, a Black man may enjoy certain privileges that stem from his success as a small business owner, yet still may find himself unable to hail a cab. This marginalization has complex consequences and demonstrates the fluidity of hegemonic masculinity. Finally, complicit masculinities are those that do not embody hegemonic processes per se, but benefit from the ways in which hegemonic masculinities construct the gender order and local gender regimes.

The social organization of these masculinities is at work creating hierarchical gender regimes within all social organizations. Underlying and supporting the maintenance of gender hierarchies is the enforcement of rules of compulsory heterosexuality (Rich, 1980). This means that homophobic ideas provide the ideological foundation for the constant "policing" of heterosexual and homosexual masculinities (Connell, 1992; Epstein, 1997). Homophobia acts to normalize dominant gender ideologies and performances by creating fears of being seen as "different." Boys and men who reject or challenge hegemonic forms of masculine behaviors are often seen as traitors to masculinity. As such, they may live under a constant threat of emotional or physical violence.

My goal from the outset of this study was to speak with men teachers about the very personal business of being men in a predominately women's occupation (Oakley, 1981). I wanted to pose questions to men that are more often posed to women (Cohen, 1991) about their experiences entering and remaining in a gender-atypical work environment. In addition I asked other significant actors in the lives of men in ECE for their perceptions of the men's experiences. Weiss (1995, p. 73) called this forming a "panel of knowledgeable informants," and the narratives of the other participants were used to support the men's accounts, thus adding credibility to the study.

METHOD

Participants

The first step in recruiting participants was to locate men working in the field of early childhood education. I utilized a directory of school districts to identify men teaching in grades K-3, and for men working in pre-kindergarten agencies, I accessed a local association of early childhood educators who supplied me with a list of names. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (2003), approximately 2% of the teachers in kindergarten through third grade are men. In preschool and childcare centers, the proportion is even less. This became quite evident as I searched the directories. For example, I found that 20% of the elementary schools listed had no men on teaching staff. Even more dramatic were the findings that 65% of the elementary schools have no men teaching at the youngest grade levels and over 90% of the pre-kindergarten centers are devoid of men.

Once I located a pool of men to interview, I sent letters to them in care of their work places. I also sent letters to principals and supervisors of childcare centers based on the presence of men working in their respective organizations as teachers or caregivers. Faculty members in colleges of education were located through their college or university websites and solicited through letters or phone calls. Thus far I have interviewed 54 men working in ECE, 10 elementary school principals, 6 preschool or childcare center directors, and 8 faculty members in colleges of education, including two deans. All participants were located in the western United States in California, Oregon, or Washington. Approximately one-half of the schools/centers are located in urban areas, the remainder are equally distributed between suburban and rural locations.

The men's ages ranged from early 20s to late 50s with a mean age of 37. Forty-two were married, and all but four of the married men had children. The range of experience was from 1 to over 30 years. Most have been in their fields for approximately 9 years (the median and mean). To my question "How would you identify yourself ethnically?," 6 men said "African-American," 3 said "Black," 3 said "Japanese-American," 1 said "Vietnamese-American," 9 said "Mexican-American," 1 said "Latino," 27 said "White," 2 said "Irish," and 2 said "Caucasian."

Procedure

The data were gathered through in-depth interviews. All interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed. I began with open-ended questions such as:

"Tell me about getting into teaching." [teachers]     
"Tell me about your experiences as the only man at your school."     [teachers]     
"Can you relate to me some of the things you have heard regarding the employment of men in early childhood education?" [all     participants
"Describe for me some of the experiences you have had with men in your classroom (or program)." [faculty in colleges of education, principals, and supervisors]

Subsequent questions flowed from my list of prompts designed to elicit rich detail. Other questions concerned problems the participants had encountered in the course of their own work lives (Harper, 1994). By asking the participants to "teach" me about their lives, I was making use of their normal communicative style (Briggs, 1986).