“When children play they are making sense of their social world. In play they create and recreate their understanding of what they believe to be normal behaviour for boys and girls, women and men. They construct their play using what they have distilled from the adult world about normal gendered ways of being, thinking and acting.” (MacNaughton, 2010). One of the strengths of our world-class early childhood system here in Aotearoa is our diversity – diversity of service type, of philosophy, of pedagogical approach, and of course the incredible variety of social backgrounds from which our educators are drawn. While we can be very proud of the many ways in which our ECE services reflect our society as a whole there is one regard in which we have much to do – the balancing of genders within our teaching teams. Gender-balanced Teaching Teams – Strength through diversity From the EC-Menz National Committee The early years are a critical time when gender roles and stereotypical notions of what it means to be masculine or feminine are shaped, and when positive influences on children’s (and families’) understanding of gender norms can most easily be achieved (Rainbow Families Council, 2012). Alas, for many children the need for positive masculine role models – examples of what good men look like – is simply not being met in their home environments. This positive masculine energy can be shown by women as well, of course, and those who self-identify as male regardless of their birth sex. This is what gender diversity is all about! These ideas are nothing new, of course. Dr Rangimarie Rose Pere presents her understanding of the role that men played in traditional Māori life. In her own iwi the “Grandfathers, fathers, particularly spend as much time with their young offspring as the mothers and grandmothers. Like the women, the men could perform the nursing duties for infants with great tenderness and care” (Pere, 1997). Thus, gender diversity in ECE upholds traditional Māori ways of being December 2021 { 24 }
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