The childcare sector in Ireland has the lowest representation of male workers in Europe — less than one per cent. In this female-dominated sector, many children in childcare have no contact with men between 8am and 5pm.
In a society that is increasingly concerned with equality issues, we need to look at men in childcare as a viable option:
Children benefit because men bring new ideas and ways of working into childcare.
Fathers benefit because they have someone to relate to and may feel more at ease.
Staff benefit because more gender-balanced staff teams give different ways of looking at issues and use different approaches.
Having men working in childcare shows children that manliness can include caring.