18th December 2008
It’s not hard to believe that 97.5% of the childcare workforce is female and that only 1% of nursery nurses are male, what is fairly astonishing is that this figure of 1% has remained unchanged for the past ten years. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised – the male population as a whole is routinely (and unfairly) treated with suspicion when it comes to children and our media do nothing to reverse this trend but even so....
I can understand many men’s reluctance to enter into this predominantly female world. Putting aside poor pay and low status I imagine it can’t be the most attractive of prospects to work in an environment where all your colleagues are of the opposite sex. A male friend of mine gave up his full-time job whilst his wife went back to work and gamely joined the ranks of us women - taking the children to playgroups and arranging play dates etc. and after a while we even stopped asking how he was ‘getting on’ After a year or so he went back to work leaving his wife with part time responsibility for their preschoolers and I don’t suppose it takes a genius to work out why. Being at home with young children can be difficult at the best of times and if you don’t feel truly part of a larger network it must be even harder.
There was also a young male play assistant and our local nursery who seemed to be a big hit with the children and although I did sometimes catch the odd ‘eye roll’ directed his way from some of the female members of staff, having a male member of staff in this environment was really refreshing. Childcare experts all agree that it is crucial that children are exposed to males in nurseries to I was saddened to see this particular male leave and can only speculate upon the reason.
In Pyjama Drama I am glad to say that (in my Saturday class at least) there are a growing number of Dads who bring their children to classes and who join in as enthusiastically as any of the Mums. The positive influence of having interesting, interactive and caring males in a child’s life cannot be underestimated and that is exactly why as Pyjama Drama grows, I would love to receive some applications from men who wish to become franchisees. Last night or the first time ever, I had an email from a very enthusiastic sounding male asking for information on the franchise so it would be wonderful to think that one day soon this may become a reality. Come on men – we need you! Watch this space...