Doing Masculinities: Exploring Gender and Age in Professionalizing Family Day Care in Taiwan

Abstract

This study analyzes how male childminders in different life stages conduct their work and how they approach masculinities in this profession. We interviewed 16 males from three cities in Taiwan. Data analysis identified different masculinity construction mechanisms for men younger than 50 and those older than 60. These men understand childminding differently: While the younger ones embrace professionalization to create a childminding profession that is different from traditional female work, the older ones refuse to recognize child care as an occupation and strive to blur home/work boundaries to define child care services as a family duty or housework. The research suggests that hegemonic masculinity attributes are being introduced to this female-dominated profession, along with age-related sociocultural norms that provide the context for individuals to reconstruct alternative masculinities.