In Australia, about seventy-five percent (75%) of all educators are female with only twenty-five percent (25%) male teachers. The situation is even more severe when it comes to lower grades and kindergarten, where males represent only about two (2%) to three percent (3%) of all employees.
With the rise of social awareness and equality between genders, this is a worrying statistic – there are considerably fewer male teachers than there are females.
Teaching has been traditionally regarded as a profession for women, and it turns out male teachers are having a hard time to adjust to this environment.
Society and male teachers
Probably the most important factor that needs to be mentioned here is society. Our social environment plays a significant role in the things we decide to do with our lives. As mentioned, the general understanding globally is that teaching and educating children is a career for women.
Considering this, many young boys disregard teaching as an opportunity, while for others the thought of becoming an educator is inconceivable.
Another effect of the social stigma on male teachers is that many of the male educators are perceived to be sort of predators. This effect is again caused by our society’s incapability to understand that teaching, just as parenting can be done by men just as well as by women.
While society is the predominant factor that defers males from becoming teachers, other factors play a role as well. Probably the most significant of them is the low average pay teachers receive worldwide.
Gender equality
In the era of gender equality, one cannot miss this disparity in numbers between female and male teachers. While the statistics are clear, we as a society should work on changing them.
According to research by the Australian Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), teams that consist of relatively equal part male and female employees tend to perform better, compared to workplaces where one gender dominates in number.
Considering this, it is important that educational systems around the world and society escape the stigma and start accepting male teachers as something normal and desirable for the better performance of educational institutions.
