GENDER-ATYPICAL WORK: MEN IN CHILD CARE AND EARLY EDUCATION
Open Access
- Author:
- Stouter, Meghan Quinn
- Graduate Program:
- Human Resources and Employment Relations
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- March 30, 2017
- Committee Members:
- Sarah Damaske, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Jean Phillips, Committee Member
Stacy Silver, Committee Member - Keywords:
- differential treatment
gender-atypical work
job satisfaction - Abstract:
- The purpose of this study is to compare the experiences of men and women working in child care/early education fields. Men are in the minority in these occupations, so this thesis asks if men and women have different experiences at work through assessing if they have different perceptions of job growth, their relationships with supervisors, coworkers, and/or parents, and what each gender perceives the main challenges to be. If differences between men’s and women’s experiences are discovered, this study aims to understand if they are positive or negative for men and how they might impact job satisfaction. In-depth interviews with five men and four women were conducted and transcribed. Results show that men have higher perceptions of future job growth, but conversely experience fewer on-the-job friendships, feelings of isolation, and perceive their relationships with their charges’ parents to be weaker than their female counterparts. In turn, average job satisfaction was rated slightly lower for men than women in these fields. These somewhat contradictory findings indicate that men may experience both positive and negative outcomes of being the minority gender in these occupations.