I had a REALLY interesting conversation with both a female and a male ECE student yesterday.
The gist of it was the male – who had spent the day in our child development lab – commented that one of the little boys seemed to bond with him immediately.
I asked him why he thought that may have happened.
He said, ‘He’s never seen one of us in his room!”
The female student then said, “My boss won’t hire men. She has a policy against it.”
So, after giving my Does-Your-Boss-Know-That’s-Gender-Discrimination speech, we talked about men in the classroom and why everyone is so afraid.
I referenced a recent hospital kidnapping of a newborn, and asked them if they knew that every single hospital kidnapping of a newborn EVER had been committed by a woman.
I then asked if it would make sense to get women out of the healthcare field in order to make hospitals safer since we know it’s only women perpetuating these crimes.
They said that would be crazy.
I asked them how often they eat bagged or fresh spinach.
One of them said, “All the time.” I said, “But it was deadly a few months ago.
She said, “But it’s safe now.”
Bottom line, we have to promote all the ways that programs and families can feel safe with men.
And yes, my book does some of that.
Testimonials from real programs in the field would help. So, if you want to quote from the book, quote away (just cite).
I know this website is primarily for men in education, but men aren’t going to be able to get into the field without a lot of women opening their doors. I think we need to show them how to do it.
[Frances Carlson is author of the book Essential Touch.]