Sammendrag
This article highlight the goal of 20 percent male employees in Norwegian kindergartens as a contribution to promoting gender equality. We conducted two studies showing different expectations towards men and women. Informants are positive to increasing the number of men, but in the two surveys they expressed conflicting expectations towards the role of men in kindergartens. In the survey among male preschool students they have objections to recruit men as a group because they are men (Kasin et al. 2010). In the survey among employees in kindergartens they desire men just because they are men, different from women. Their rationale is that this creates diversity (Kasin and Slåtten 2011). We discuss this seeming contradiction in the informants' views on the basis of different perceptions about gender. By using different levels of analysis we show how male employees can be understood in several ways that promotes gender equality. At the societal level, several men in kindergarten can be seen as part of a liberal policy to promote equal rights and opportunities for labor force participation. At the institutional level, gender equality depends on activities in the educational program. At the individual level equality can be understood as practices among each employee that prevent stereotyped gender understanding, and through these practices give children equal opportunities across gender divides. Our own research indicates that exclusive focuses on the representation of male employees in kindergartens are likely to conceal rather than to clarify a need to develop educational practices that promote gender equality.
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