Gender dynamics in elementary school teaching: The advantages of men

Gender imbalances in elementary school teaching

We here identified three major subthemes: awareness about the over-representation of women in elementary education, which is not perceived as problematic; the understanding that a greater gender balance would be beneficial to education standards; and detailing how biology, gender ideology and the educational ideology of the Estado Novo dictatorship (1933–1974) constitute the main reasons for this imbalance.

The main subtheme conveys how male and female teachers are aware of the numerical differences between men and women among elementary teaching staff, with the females employed predominating in numbers. Nevertheless, respondents do not deem this situation problematic. As the result of historical trends, this gets perceived as ‘reasonably normal’, especially as this reflects a phase when children get on better with women who are, in the main, their carers:

I do not consider this any problem. That’s what I think … I do not consider this a problem. (E1, Female)

I believe this is reasonably normal. There is a history and all professions have their histories. There is a history of heavily female recruitment over the last 70, 80 years. And, therefore, it’s normal that this is today a very feminized profession. (E5, Male)

Despite this, all interviewees agree that they would like to see a better balance between males and females in the profession and believe in progress in this direction. Indeed, they consider that greater gender equilibrium would bring benefits to education, both for children, who also need a ‘male reference framework’, and for the ambience prevailing among peers:

I think teaching would benefit from having more men in elementary teaching …, especially because there are many kids that need a male reference, don’t they? Effectively, there are boys that need a masculine reference, therefore, male teachers might make all the difference. (E2, Female)

It might be better if there were more men, demystifying a bit this idea that a teacher in the 1st cycle [elementary level] is something for women …, but also out of a question of the ambience among colleagues that would be better balanced. (E4, Male)

The third subtheme incorporates the reasons identified for the ‘feminization’ of elementary teaching in Portugal, revealing how these derive from diverse factors with biological, sociocultural, historical and ideological roots. Furthermore, most participants (6 females, 8 males) state this happens out of a question of option or vocation. Nevertheless, there is also the notion among both sets of participants that this option is not actually ‘natural’, resulting from the influence of various factors, especially interlinked with gender and political ideologies.

Indeed, one half of the female teachers identify sociocultural factors, which orient males and females towards specific professions, in accordance with stereotypes and traditional gender-based roles, as is the case with elementary teaching associated with maternity and the role of carer. Correspondingly, males have generally been oriented towards other professions, those requiring greater rationality, objectivity and physical strength and therefore not so frequently opting for elementary teaching:

Normally, men get immediately induced into other areas: the sciences, chemistry, mathematics and … the women, even if only in a subtle fashion, are induced into areas such as education. (E1, Female)

It’s not in anyone’s mind that the husband stays at home or is confined to the home … with his children from an educational perspective. Because women, the role of women involves taking care of the house and educating the children …, these numbers in the profession reflect all this … indeed, our heads have not yet changed. (E13, Female)

There is also the understanding among female teachers that the ‘feminization’ of elementary teaching stems from the political and ideological options for education enacted by the Estado Novo dictatorship. Indeed, they for example understand that in opting to pay teachers badly at this level of education, the state undermines the profession and makes it unappealing for men to become elementary teachers as they would thus not be able to support their families. On the other hand, as women are perceived as more obedient, they were deemed the most appropriate persons to enter this profession in keeping with the ideological framework of the dictatorship:

They were the educational options [of the Government] of the 1930s … . To devalue the profession, lowering the wages. Therefore, as a badly paid profession, it became shameful for men to become elementary school teachers as they were not able to look after their families … . This was a political option and an ideological option. Furthermore …, it was very easy to teach them [women] the principles of Salazarism …, they were far more tender hearted … (E3, Female)

At the beginning, they [elementary school teachers] were men. I don’t know whether this was because of the respect, for a more aggressive attitude, more severe then. Afterwards, the situation changed somewhat at the time of the Estado Novo as it was then the women. The men ended up doing another type of work, they had to work in other areas. (E12, Female)

This perception was inculcated to such an extent that even today most of society is still not open to men becoming elementary school teachers. Two restrictions are identified as ensuring that men will continue not to opt for this profession: maternal competences, perceived as ‘natural’ in women, and the difficulties in dealing with the emotional affections in this young age group, thus, effectively underpinning the belief that men lack either the competence or the patience to deal with children at a stage when they still need a lot of care:

There is that issue of dealing with little kids, isn’t there? If you really think that you don’t have the competences to deal with such young kids who, on occasion, still want to be picked up, who cry, who need you to be in the canteen helping them to have their snack … . Perhaps, they tend to avoid a bit this age group. (E10, Female)

I don’t know if the age group is a barrier. If they do in fact think it’s more difficult working with younger children … maybe, the age group does present a conditioning factor and, very probably, dealing with those questions, also at the level of behaviours and affections, in this age group. (E9, Female)

Male teachers accept that the ‘maternal’ question might end up deterring men from entering the profession and attracting women, who are furthermore deemed to have a better vocation for caring for children in this age group than males, who instead opt for ‘harder’ positions. Indeed, perceptions of this profession as ‘feminine’ are why men are not attracted to it, they do not see themselves as fitting into it. Additionally, they would also seem to lack this kind of vocation: the ‘capacity for suffering’ or patience for such young children. Even among those who do opt for the profession, some do express shame at taking on a ‘woman’s profession’:

Initially, I felt a bit displaced and I thought: ‘Well, this isn’t for me!’ Because I thought from the outset that this would be a female profession … . At the beginning, I felt a little bit: ‘Well, this is not for me! It’s not me here … really, this is only women, what am I doing here!?’ (E15, Male)

This may relate to … I would not say with the taste for teaching but, perhaps, the men don’t join perhaps because they consider this a more female profession and choose to work in more, I’m not sure how to say it … harder jobs in some way. (E8, Male)

Another of the reasons identified by male interviewees for elementary schooling having become ‘feminized’ stems from the Estado Novo educational policy. Indeed, male teachers also point to the political and ideological education options taken in Portugal in the 1930s that led to the integration of many women into elementary teaching and the departure of as many men even while remaining dominant in the management and leadership positions:

This is also therefore bound up with this historical phase, isn’t it? … I think this also owes a lot to the Estado Novo. (E14, Male)

Being a teacher in the 1st cycle was primary [too basic] and the men did not want to be associated with it as that would devalue them as persons. (E6, Male)

Gender dynamics of tokenism

As regards their experiences within the professional context, another three subthemes stand out in interviewee discourses interconnected with the consequences of tokenism and revealing the following: there is a higher visibility for male teachers but this does not generate performance-related pressures; the polarization of the existing differences neither marginalizes nor raises obstacles to their careers; and the assimilation of stereotypical male roles benefits them.

In fact, our analysis confirms the higher visibility of token men in elementary teaching. Most respondents (N = 15; 7 females, 8 males) understand that, as men are scarce in the context, they are much more visible than their female colleagues, with everybody knowing their names, for example. However, the successes of male teachers and, above all, their errors, are not perceived as gaining higher visibility than those of their female peers as was noted by seven interviewees; while eight respondents also believe that male colleagues do not feel that they must prove their competences more than their female peers in this ‘feminized world’. Indeed, apart from two respondents, the male teachers do not feel that their errors or successes become any more visible than those of their female colleagues:

In the 1st cycle, I am [the only male teacher]. Yes, I am more visible, more observed. (E15, Male)

I don’t think so. Indeed, there is a logic and a tradition of collaborative work in this profession and therefore the successes of some are the successes of others, the failures of some are also immediately the failures of others … (E5, Male)

Except for one teacher, the interviewees did not identify any polarized differences between male and female teachers that would marginalize the former, nor were there any specific career obstacles.

In fact, all the female teachers stated that there was no differentiated treatment in schools negatively discriminating against men in favour of their female peers, considering the former to be perfectly integrated and included. On the contrary, were there any discrimination, this would be positive in nature as the men are clearly subject to better treatment by the women, who display greater care for and attention towards them. Furthermore, they more rapidly ascend to school management positions than females, sometimes due to the latter considering that the males hold a more legitimate right to such positions. Indeed, even in situations in which men are ‘weaker’, in terms of competences, they still end up experiencing faster tracks to promotion to management positions because they are placed there by women:

I don’t think there really is any differentiated treatment … . No, sometimes, rather on the other hand, they get a coffee, they get a tea made for them (laughter). As the men are fewer, there is always somebody, ‘Ah, look …’ or because there is a certain lack of knack or whatever that thing they think that women have … that is innate, of preparing things for other people and, as they are fewer, well then, there is always this … I think there’s this, not discrimination, but rather care to the contrary. (E1, Female)

There is always one man who is like that, who has certain problems and then afterwards they make him the coordinator of something and so forth so as not create any more work. (E3, Female)

In turn, with one exception, all the male teachers stated that they have never encountered any differentiated treatment between them and their female colleagues that negatively discriminated against them or raised career obstacles due to being male. In the school, on occasion, they notice differences in treatment in cases where discipline is required, with men called upon to resolve such situations. This also identifies differences between males (perceived as more relaxed) and females (perceived as more competitive and observers), especially with regard to management positions, with relationships with male directors perceived as easier than those with their female peers. In summary, male teachers always feel well integrated and included and even as recently as 2008 they were feeling a sense of positive discrimination and frequently pushed by women into management positions, a phenomenon that is today less visible as power is centred around the School Management Board:

I never felt [discriminated]. Yes, I feel very well integrated … . I always feel fairly appreciated, I’m always well looked after and hence I can feel comfortable. (E4, Male)

I feel very well integrated, without any discrimination. They treat us well. There is one aspect here of discrimination, even if not actually negative discrimination but rather more a trend towards … in every school I have been allocated to, whenever there is a need to find people for coordination or management roles and posts … they normally look to me. (E5, Male)

The last subtheme reveals how there has been the assimilation of the stereotypical roles of males among most interview respondents (N = 15; 6 females, 9 males) that benefits the token men.

While the discourses are fairly heterogeneous among the female teachers and, on occasion, ambivalent or even contradictory, it nevertheless becomes clear that they do perceive differences between themselves and their male colleagues. In turn, this derives from the belief that men represent added value to the profession. Initially, female teachers report that, when teaching, being male is the same as being female; that there are neither advantages nor disadvantages in being male in the 1st cycle; that there are no differences in the classrooms; and that relationships with colleagues also remain on an equal footing. However, over the course of the interviews, opinions begin to divide: some maintain that women hold the same expectations as regards male colleagues. Furthermore, the men, while first considering that they engage with the profession in the same way as their female peers, often end up accepting that there are different expectations held by females towards male teachers simply as men in the profession. As an added value to its professional profile, they are then expected to undertake the supposedly ‘masculine’ tasks (e.g. those interconnected with authority, respect and physical strength):

There are many female teachers that think, yes, the males do have more discipline, that they get more respect as men, because they have the strength of men and when there is the need for the use of physical strength. (E13, Female)

[There is the expectation] that the men are an added value to that entire group of women. And what does that mean? That the males are able to do things that we are not able to and, therefore, they can help us with those things … . Whenever there is a discipline problem, the man intervenes. (E2, Female)

In addition, practically all female teachers end up identifying differences in terms of the attributes and characteristic features of male and female personalities, with the former generally perceived as more objective, rational, capable of imposing more respect and rules than their female counterparts. Furthermore, the males get listened to more and can more easily handle subjects such as physical education and music, ‘having more control’ over the children as they are physically strong as well as being easier, relaxed, humorous, direct, practical and coping better with challenges than women. Hence, they necessarily end up having different relationships with their classes and teaching in a different way to women, who sometimes apparently lose themselves in the details:

I think that there’s added value from having another gender here in the school. And, in our daily routines, that brings those more practical questions I was talking about: a less complicated person, perhaps with a more facilitating personality when something needs to get resolved, I think that it helps having a masculine personality around. (E9, Female)

For example, in concrete situations of opinions … then they get taken more into consideration than their female colleagues, if they are given, or when after advice, requesting some counselling, you get listened to more if [you are] a male colleague than if a female colleague. (E2, Female)

Despite this, various female teachers maintain that men also face some disadvantages in elementary teaching in comparison with women, with the emphasis placed on showing affection and the difficulties of working in a ‘feminine’ profession. According to the female respondents, men must take additional care with students with regard to displaying affection, taking into account the norms in effect for male sexuality. Generally, a male teacher should (and is able) to take on a more paternal relationship, more distant from the students and less affectionate and caring than their female peers, who are (and are able to be) more maternal. Additionally, and reproducing a misogynous discourse, some respondents consider that it is not easy to work in women-dominated professions as there is correspondingly a great deal of conflict. This same reason explains why many deem the arrival of more men in the profession to be a positive factor as they smooth the working environment:

There might be some disadvantages. Being a male teacher. Yes. Because I am thinking how in the 1st year, for example, the kids really like being picked up, kissed. Sometimes they come and sit on your lap. I’m not sure, with how everything is, with all of the hysteria that there is around paedophilia and so forth, I don’t know whether this would not be seen more badly for a male than a female teacher. (E13, Female)

It’s not easy. Firstly, because they work with a lot of women and it’s not easy working with women (laughter), as women, very often, are conflictual … and the males, very often, calm down this environment a bit … . It’s not easy working just with women and it’s much better working with men. (E16, Female)

The male interviewees reveal the same ambivalence as regards the expectations female colleagues have of them as males engaging in the profession: either they think their expectations are the same or they think they are different, or they simply ignore this dimension. The former consider that the expectations of females towards their male colleagues, as men, are just the same and that men are undertaking the profession in the same fashion. On occasion, different methodologies might be noted but the results are the same and therefore the same is expected of male teachers as of female teachers apart from specific issues such as physical strength. Indeed, there are references to how, inside the classroom, what becomes most important is the programme, regardless of the personal characteristics or sex of each individual. Therefore, in the classroom context, there are fewer differences identified between the professionals as they must all complete the programme even while able to manage this objective through their own approaches:

I don’t think that the way of teaching is different in relation to between men and women. (E7, Male)

In the classroom context, there aren’t any [differences]. Of course, each one of us has our own methodologies but in complying with the programme, these things, no … there are not any differences, you must comply. Of course, we all have our own methodology and way of explaining that is different to others, but I do not see any differences in this field. (E17, Male)

As regards those male teachers who feel their female counterparts hold different expectations of them, these get defined as females expecting males to display greater objectivity, exercise more authority and gain respect, knowing how to grasp the attention of the class and maintain order particularly in more complicated school environments while not expecting them to have the kind of affectionate student relationships that female teachers build up. Over the interviews, all respondents told of how there are various situations in which women turn to men to carry out certain tasks deemed ‘masculine’, particularly anything related to information technology and new devices, minor repairs and physical strength or whenever there are problematic students:

It is natural that it is thought that women teachers think that this is the expectation of a man who has authority, who has the class in his ‘hand’. (E4, Male)

Yes, there is a certain type of observation made: ‘As you are a man, come over here and get this child into order!’ Or, ‘As you are a man, you are strong, come here as I can no long cope with this child!’ Or, of the type, they knock on the door and say: ‘Look after this one as I cannot put up with him and you’re a man and can cope better!’ I had that throughout some time … . Yes, indeed it was because I was a man. (E5, Male)

The ambivalent male interviewees are divided about the dis/advantages of males in elementary teaching. Among the positives identified, in terms of relationships with students, respondents highlight issues around respect associated with the male figure, and as regards those among adults, respondents detail how males are the centre of attention and give the example of the privileged treatment they receive from canteen staff, who are more cheerful and generous towards them. These male interviewees also referred to advantages deriving from having men in elementary schools as they bring different visions to those of women, help in maintaining a balance in the professional environment from the relational point of view as well as greater objectivity and fewer conflicts:

I think that, at least in part, in terms of respect, I think that it is very different. Even in terms of the tone of voice, authority is a man. (E15, Male)

The advantage of being unique is that we sometimes feel ourselves to be the centre of attention and our own colleagues, of everything that is going on around. That is the only advantage because for the rest, in terms of working, it’s just the same. (E15, Male)

The only disadvantage of being a male teacher in elementary education highlighted by male respondents (and also by female respondents) stems from expressions of affection. Indeed, while identifying the importance for the profession, irrespective of their sex, to exercise the other side to authority, thus the softer, more maternal side, there is acceptance that male teachers need to show greater care in the expression of affections. Female teachers display (and can display) greater tenderness towards their students than their male counterparts. The latter require greater care simply due to being male, given that, as is accepted by this group, people perceive expressions of tenderness differently when displayed by females or males. Thus, various of the male respondents state that they do pay attention to this dimension before adding that they personally do not pick up or embrace their students both out of thinking that this is not a means of education but also out of fear of being misinterpreted whether by colleagues or by parents:

A male teacher has to be a lot more careful, also because of this, as male teachers. There are social factors that restrict us, that create some barriers, in a certain way … . Let us add a disadvantage to being a male teacher. Yes, there is the disadvantage of a sexual type … perhaps, any show of affection, any more tender attitude towards a student might really get interpreted according to other views. And there, yes indeed, we have to show some care that might serve as an obstacle. (E18, Male)