Critically Consider the Role of Gender in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

This study examines the concept of gender, the factors that influence children's perceptions of gender and the reasons for the imbalance between the number of male and female kindergarten teachers. The study found that Children's understanding of gender can be influenced by the behaviour of parents and teachers and by cues from the media. The low salary and low social status of preschool teachers, as well as the constraints of traditional social attitudes, are factors that may lead to a much lower number of male kindergarten teachers than female teachers. Parents and teachers need to remove the influence of gender stereotypes and create a relaxed and positive environment for children to develop their gender awareness. There is a need for the government and educational institutions to improve the salaries and conditions of male and female teachers and to attract more male teachers to the ECE profession, which will help break down gender stereotypes of children.

Gender Representation in Children’s EFL Textbooks: A Comparison between Private Primary Schools and Language Centers in Fes

“…Whereas women are usually seen in teaching positions associated with humanities and social sciences (Raccah and Ayalon, 2002). Additionally, the ratio of women's participation in lower educational levels, such as early childhood and primary levels, is usually higher than men's due to the fact that these arenas have been considered feminine (Wu, 2023). Another feature of gender stereotypes in education is that boys are assumed to outperform girls in scientific subjects while girls do better in languages (Chaochao et al, 2020).…”