Why men make up only 13pc of Kenya’s ECDE teachers, and why that needs to change
Suspicion of men in the service revolves around concerns about physical contact with children, such as during toilet training, and around beliefs that women are more caring, patient, and better suited to such contexts.
What you need to know:
- The concentration of women in the profession is largely attributed to the traditional view that childcare is an extension of biological motherhood, so men who venture into it are seen as violating gender boundaries.
- This amounts to naturalising a social role, with the risk that women may equally be denied entry into professions deemed masculine, such as security.
Men constitute about 13 per cent of early childhood development education (ECDE) teachers in Kenya, according to the Economic Survey Report 2026. This low proportion is not just a Kenyan phenomenon but a global one. In Norway, the men in ECDE account for 10 per cent of the workforce.
While this is higher than the global average of 1-4 per cent, it is too low to constitute parity. The strides in Norway are attributed to broader gender equality initiatives such as reduction in occupational segregation, deliberate efforts to recruit men into the profession and parental policies that automatically obligate male participation in domestic care work.
Literature on the subject attributes the feminisation of the profession to several factors. Paul Sargent (2002), in “The Gendering of Men in Early Childhood Education,” argues that men in ECDE face suspicion and scrutiny because of the gender norm that early childhood education is women’s domain. David Brody (2014), in “Men Who Teach Young Children: An International Perspective,” observes that this stereotype discourages men from entering the profession. Deevia Bhana, Shaaista Moosa, Yuwei Xu, and Kari Emilsen (2022), in “Men in Early Childhood Education and Care: On Navigating a Gendered Terrain,” note that men feel only grudgingly accepted.
On a positive note, Victoria Sullivan et al. (2020), in “Beliefs and Attributions: Insider Accounts of Men’s Place in Early Childhood Education and Care,” found that female peers viewed their male colleagues positively. In addition, men were perceived as balancing emotions in the workplace and introducing a different type of energy to learning.
Maria Fatima Perales-Dolendo (2025), in “The Lived Experiences of Male Early Childhood Educators: Insights from Qualitative Interviews,” observes that male educators not only experience high levels of professional satisfaction but also serve as role models for young learners.
Israel Creleanor Mulaudzi and Tshifhiwa Ravhutulu (2024), in “Views from Male Educators Regarding Teaching at the Foundation Phase,” found that male ECDE educators in Africa face distrust and gender stereotyping. Moreover, they are mostly perceived as disciplinarians rather than nurturers. This introduces another dimension of stereotyping, consistent with functionalist theory, which holds that men are instrumental and women are expressive, and that the two are therefore suited to different roles, an assumption that justifies gendered segregation of labour.
Studies focusing on Kenya echo these findings. Truphena E. Mukuna and Stanley N. Mutsotso (2011), in “Gender Inequalities in Early Childhood Development Education Teaching Profession in Kenya,” established that cultural norms were largely responsible for the feminisation of ECDE teaching, with both teachers and parents preferring female educators at this level. Later studies confirm this pattern, with the result that the pipeline for male recruitment into the profession remains short and thin. One study described male participation as “a near absence,” meaning that men’s presence is defined more by paucity than by substantive representation.
The concentration of women in the profession is largely attributed to the traditional view that childcare is an extension of biological motherhood, so men who venture into it are seen as violating gender boundaries. This amounts to naturalising a social role, with the risk that women may equally be denied entry into professions deemed masculine, such as security.
Suspicion of men in the service revolves around concerns about physical contact with children, such as during toilet training, and around beliefs that women are more caring, patient, and better suited to such contexts. This “culture of suspicion” is noted to discourage men from entering the profession and to contribute to their higher attrition and experience of professional isolation. There is also a common perception that men who enrol to become ECDE teachers are emasculated and that many join the career as an easy route to senior administrative government jobs rather than as lifelong pedagogical work.
The literature converges on the facts that ECDE teachers are among the lowest-paid cadres globally, that working conditions are less attractive than at higher levels, and that the profession lacks social prestige. Because men are socialised to be breadwinners, low remuneration is an automatic disincentive. To pose a hypothetical: if this were the best-paying job in the educational career, would there not be an avalanche of men seeking opportunities there?
Another perspective is that the predominance of women in the profession makes the pattern self-perpetuating, in that boys do not see enough male role models to attract them into the career.
ECDE therefore appears to be a strong candidate for affirmative action, this time in favour of men. The myths and stereotypes about ECDE as a naturally feminine activity should be debunked. Teacher education institutions should deliberately encourage the enrolment of more men. The benefits of having more men in the profession should be highlighted. The associated care work should be projected as a social duty, and men should be equipped with the skills to do it.
The writer is a lecturer in Gender and Development Studies at South Eastern Kenya ([email protected])
