Gender

Convenors:

Prof. Dr. Tim Rohrmann, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Hildesheim, Germany
Joanne McHale, Technological University Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

together with:
David Brody, Senior Advisor, Jerusalem, Israel
Simon Brownhill, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Halah Gaber Elkarif, University of Cairo, Egypt
Ricardo Goncalves, Örebrö University, Sweden
Charlotte Jones, University of Warwick, UK
Birgitte Ljunggren, Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education, Norway
Yuwei Xu, University of Nottingham, UK

Purpose

For some years now, researchers from several countries have formed an international network on issues of gender in ECEC. Since 2010, members of the network organised research symposia on the annual conferences of EECERA. In 2012, the network initiated the Special Interest Group Gender Balance within EECERA.

The SIG focuses on gender issues with a special focus on the ECE work force, on the important role gender plays in adult-child-relations, and on gender in the context of diversities. This includes strategies for a more diverse and gender-mixed ECE workforce. In the past decade, several research projects were conducted, and during the past years it has become a global issue, with researchers from countries worldwide focusing on these issues. Although some government funded programmes have tried for bringing more men in the profession, the transfer from research to policy remains a challenge.

We believe that the involvement of men in children’s lives is crucial for the future development of our societies. Thus, we support the aim of increasing the proportion of male ECEC workers towards a diverse and gender-mixed work force. At the same time there is a need for a more differentiated view. Research is necessary e.g. on the significance of ECEC workers’ gender for children’s development, the interrelations of gender balance in the workforce and the promotion of gender equality, on gender-sensitive strategies for recruitment for ECE training and work, on recruitment and retention of men in the ECEC workforce, and on global perspectives in the context of gender equality and children’s development in ECEC in general.

The SIG focuses on the links of research, practice and policy, intends to provide an academic forum for the promotion, development and dissemination of research, and facilitates cooperation and collaboration between researchers in the field.

More information about the SIG, presentations, publications and projects can be found at http://www.siggender.eu

Report

Click here to view the 2022-24 report (pdf)
Click here to view the 2020-21 report (pdf)
Click here to view the 2019-20 report (pdf)
Click here to view the 2018-19 report (pdf)
Click here to view the 2017-18 report (pdf)
Click here to view the 2016-17 report (pdf)
Click here to view the 2015-16 report (pdf)
Click here to view the 2014-15 report (pdf)
Click here to view the 2013-14 report (pdf)
Click here to view the 2012-13 report (pdf)

News & Events

For information on any upcoming SIG meetings, please contact the convenors.

Newsletters

SIG Newsletter March 2024

SIG Newsletter December 2023

SIG Newsletter January 2023

SIG Newsletter AUGUST 2022

SIG Newsletter JUNE 2022

Activities & Publications

SIG Online Think Tank March 2025:
Bringing in new voices – Global perspectives on gender in the ECEC work force

Thursday, 13th March 2025, 12.00-15.00 UTC/GMT

The SIG invites to a half-day online conference. We will introduce new colleagues to the SIG, share news from recent research projects and discuss global perspectives for gender research in the field of ECEC.

More info will be available in December 2024.

SIG research conference September 2025:
Fostering gender dialogues in ECEC

Monday, 25th August 2025, Bratislava, Slovakia, 9.00-16.30

The Gender SIG invites to its 13^th research conference. The research conference has developed as a space for discussing issues of gender equality and diversity in ECEC on a global level. It is giving room for progressing the participants’ individual research development by mutual support of well-experienced colleagues as well as early career researchers.

Aims and topics of the SIG gender are at the core of the 2025 EECERA Annual conference theme of “Celebrating diversity and seeking inclusion”. We will focus on global diversities in regard to gender and gender equality, discuss connections from policy to practice, and foster the inclusion of the voices of all stakeholders in the field, including the voices of children.

The meeting is the Annual meeting of the EECERA Special Interest Group Gender, and as such it is open to all interested researchers.

More info will be available in 2025.

Early Career Researchers Group

More info: Please contact Halah Gaber Elkarif.

Collaborate research

Mentoring of Men in ECEC
Please contact Tim Rohrmann.

Multilingual evaluation of a picture book for children about an intersex child
Please contact Tim Rohrmann.

Publications

Some recent contributions on gender balance in ECEC

Haines, Serena; Nater, Christa & Sczesny, Sabine (2024). Creating a system that cares: A PRISMA review and road map to increase men’s representation in early childhood education and care. Psychology of Men & Masculinities. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000486

Childlinks (Eds.) (2023). Men in Early Childhood Education and Care [Special issue]. Childlinks (2). https://shop.barnardos.ie/products/ebook-childlinks-men-in-early-childhood-education-and-care-issue-2-2023

Bhana, Deevia, Xu, Yuwei & Adriany, Vina (Eds.) (2023). Gendered and sexual norms in global south early childhood education. London: Routledge.

Devineau, Sophie (éd.) (2023). Une mixité professionnelle contrainte par le genre. Des hommes dans les métiers de la prime enfance. Rouen: Presses universitaires de Rouen et du Havre.

Emilsen, Kari, Kjeldsaas, Lene & Friis, Pia (2023). Menn i barnehagen – hvorfor og hvordan. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.

Gender Publication lists 2013-2024

Presentations

The SIG Gender has organised symposia at the EECERA Annual conferences since 2009 and SIG research conferences since 2013. All presentations from these symposia and conferences are available on www.siggender.eu, subpage ‘documentations’. Feel free to have a look!

Links & Partners

Researchers interested in the issue of gender balance in the ECE workforce, and the important role gender plays in adult-child-relations, can join our Facebook group SIG Gender EECERA.