Exploring identities and practices of Taiwanese men working in family day care: a tentative typology

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study analyses male Taiwanese childcare workers’ approach to an understanding of masculinity. This analysis considers the sociocultural expectations of manhood in Taiwan and the economic and familial circumstances of each childminder. A typology of male childminders is proposed along two axes: the contribution to family income and the experience of childcare compared to their wives. Four types resulted from these criteria: 1) certified grandpa, 2) childminder as a pedagogue, 3) childcare as a business and 4) childminder’s helper. Drawing on 20 in-depth interviews with men who work with their spouses in a family day care, the analysis shows that the interplay of economic power and familial relations shapes the masculine construction of each archetype in a different way. Each type of childminder applies divergent discourses and practices that maintain the hegemonic form of masculinity on one hand and develops alternatives on the other. The analisis also identifies the conditions for the development of a gender-neutral conception of child care sevice with participation of men.