Kynjaðar væntingar til kvenna og karla í tveimur leikskólum

Abstract

Í greininni er fjallað um konur og karla sem starfa við uppeldi og kennslu í tveimur leikskólum á Íslandi. Lögð er áhersla á að skoða hvernig hugmyndir um karlmennsku og kvenleika hafa áhrif á vinnubrögð þeirra og viðhorf og væntingar sem þau mæta í starfi. Ætlunin er að varpa ljósi á stöðu jafnréttismála í þessum tveimur leikskólum. Byggt er á hugtökum Connell (1987), ríkjandi karlmennska og styðjandi kvenleiki. Eigindlegum rannsóknaraðferðum var beitt en gagnasöfnun í formi hálf-staðlaðra einstaklingsviðtala og þátttökuathugana hófst í september 2011 og stóð fram í apríl 2012. Tekin voru viðtöl við átta konur og tvo karla sem starfa í tveimur leikskólum og gerðar tvær þátttökuathuganir, ein í hvorum leikskóla. Niðurstöður benda til þess að verkaskipting í leikskólunum tveimur sé kynjuð þar sem hefðbundnum hugmyndum um hlutverk kynjanna er viðhaldið innan þeirra. Orðræðan um karlana innan leikskólanna og áherslur þeirra er með jákvæðum formerkjum og þeim hrósað af konunum fyrir að sinna til dæmis fótbolta. Þessi stuðningur skapar körlunum ákveðna sérstöðu í leikskólunum tveimur þar sem sambærileg orðræða á sér ekki stað um konurnar. Orðræðan um áherslur kvennanna á líkamlega umönn-un, eftirlit og foreldrasamskipti var oft með neikvæðum formerkjum. Umræðan var lituð eðlishyggju: talað var um móðureðlið sem áhrifaþátt í starfsvali og að kynin væru ólík og þyrftu þar af leiðandi ólík verkefni. Einnig kom fram að karlkyns starfsmenn í leikskólunum tveimur mæta fordómum en það bendir til þess að starfið samræmist illa hugmyndum samfélagsins um karlmennskuna. Umræðan gefur til kynna að fólk virðist eiga erfitt með að sjá það fyrir sér að karlar sem sækjast eftir starfi í leikskólum geri það af áhuga á umönnun og velferð barna heldur hljóti annarleg sjónarmið að búa þar að baki.

The World Economic Forum (2013) annually reports on the status of the global gender gap in 136 countries (p. 6). According to the 2013 report Iceland is the country with the narrowest gender gap in the world (p. 16). Even though the situation concerning equal status between men and women is good compared with many other countries, there are still issues that need to be improved. Gender segregation in the labour market is high, women do not have the same accessibility to management positions as men, and there is still a gender pay gap (p. 220). Preschool teaching is a low-paying job (Þórdís Þórðardóttir, 2012b, p. 68 and 79), and the majority of preschool teachers are women. In 2012, 94% of preschoolemployees in Iceland were women (Hagstofa Íslands, 2013c), and about 98% of those studying to become preschool teachers (Hagstofa Íslands, 2013b). Qualified preschool teachers were only about 33% of preschool employees in 2013 (Hagstofa Íslands, 2013d).The aim of the article is to examine how ideas about masculinity and femininity influence men and women who work in two preschools in Iceland. Attitudes of both qualified preschool teachers and unqualified staff are taken into account in order to get a comprehensive view of the status of equal rights between men and women in the preschools. Connell´s concept of hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity were applied to explore gender relations in the preschools.The position of women and men in Icelandic preschools has not been studied this way before. This article seeks to answer the following question: How do ideas about femininity and masculinity influence the approaches of women andmen working in preschools, and how do these ideas affect expectations towards them?Qualitative methods were used, and data was gathered during the 2011–2012 school year. Data was collected in two preschools, consisting of ten interviews and two participant observations. Five interviews were conducted in each preschool, four with women and one with a man. Their job experience ranked fromless than two years to about thirty years. Three of them were qualified preschool teachers, whereas two of them were unqualified staff members. The male intervieweesin both the preschools were unqualified. In each preschool one participantobservation was conducted providing an opportunity to observe how women and men work and communicate.The conclusions show that the division of labour in both the preschools is predominantly along gendered lines. The men receive support from the women inthe preschools, who often compared the men’s methods of work to their own.The discourse concerning the men’s approach to their work is positive and thewomen compliment them, for example for playing football. This support providesthem with a unique position in the two preschools, where no comparable discourseapplied to women. The women thus facilitate men’s dominant statusthrough emphasized femininity, which is one of the reasons for women’s subordinationin society (Connell, 1987, p. 183). Essetialism characterized the participants’discussion where preconceived notions about different gender roles formen and women were dominant. The division of labour among the staff can influencechildren’s preconceived notions about different roles for men and womenbased on their gender. The findings also indicate that male preschool employeesare thought to be important role models for the children and particularly theboys. The discussion is related to the “poor boys” discussion. A common mythin the discourse is that poor educational performance of boys can be attributedto their lack of male role models in schools (Ingólfur Ásgeir Jóhannesson, 2004,p. 116). Furthermore the findings show that women seem to expect male employeesto stay in preschools for a short time because the low salary will be unacceptableto them. This kind of discussion did not define attitudes towardswomen. Prejudice inside the preschools and from parents appears to have contributedto the fact that few men work in preschools. This relates to their characterisationas potential sex offenders. It seems to be difficult for people topicture men wanting to work in preschools because of their interest in childcareand the wellbeing of children.One of the aims of the Act on Equal Rights of Women and Men (i. Lög um jafnastöðu og jafnan rétt kvenna og karla nr. 10/2008) is to change traditional genderroles and work against negative stereotypes concerning women and menthrough awareness-raising. The aim is also to specifically improve the status ofwomen and increase their opportunities in society, for example by increasing education on gender equality. It seems that these factors are not being consider-ed thoroughly and the findings pose questions whether other preschools have as clear a division of labour regarding women and men. Further research is required to shed light on gender equality, or lack thereof, and whether the low status of..