Why More Men Are Needed in Early Childhood

Despite increasing male participation in recent years in many traditionally female\u27\u27 professions, early childhood education continues to be widely regarded as women\u27s work. Many people in and out of the early childhood field deeply believe that women are naturally predisposed to caring for young children and men are not (Neugebauer, 1999). Male early childhood educators, therefore, are highly conspicuous and subject to considerable suspicion. Male staff want to be able to work with young children without their motives being questioned and without being placed under constant scrutiny by administrators, other teachers and parents for possibly being gay or a pedophile (Neugebauer, 1999). This paper will focus on how more men need to be more involved in early childhood and different ways to include them in the lives of young children. The resulting project will be a retreat for males working in the early childhood field. This project will focus on preparing future male ECEs by educating them on what obstacles they will face, the different ways they will help children and what steps to take in order to become an early childhood educator