How Does Gender Affect the Teaching Profession?

     In the teaching profession, it’s no secret that women teachers and the majority. In the  module introduction, it says “early in American history, most school teachers were white men”. This is true because women weren’t allowed to get an education, therefore, there weren't any female teachers. However, once women were able to get an education, women started occupying teaching roles, especially since there weren't many job options for women back then. Teaching quickly became a “feminine” role. Nowadays, most people believe teaching roles are better suited for women. Additionally, men who are educators, especially educators for young children, aren’t seen as real men, or get their masculinity questioned.  This results in men being discouraged to become educators.

    Although there are more women in the education profession, both male and female teachers make an impact in schools and their students. We should persuade more men to become educators because it’s a rewarding career path, and this way students will not only have female figures to learn from, but also male figures to learn from. This will result in positive results because it will contribute to student development and they will get both masculine and feminine views. We’ve been talking about equity and stereotypes in schools, well there should also be equity in the teaching profession and stereotypes such as, “teaching is a woman's job”, need to end. Overall, more men in this profession will help break down the gender barriers and stereotypes that were created over the years. It’s important to include male representation in the education field so that students aren’t discouraged to take a specific role because of the barriers behind that role. Just like we always talk about supporting women and equity/ equality for women, we should be doing the same for men.