When the “Manny” is the Boss. An Exploratory Study into Discrimination and Preferential Treatment Perceived by Men Childcare Business Owners

Abstract

There are three major oversights in the extant literature on occupational segregation. Firstly, the study of segregation is confined to employed workers ignoring the experiences of those in self-employment. Secondly, gender segregation tends to be studied from the perspective of women : there are few published accounts of the experiences of men in traditionally female roles. Finally, existing studies tend to document the negative, but not the positive consequences of gender segregation. This paper begins to address these gaps through an explorative, descriptive study comparing the experiences of men business owners in both gender congruent (construction and sound recording) and gender incongruent (childcare) sectors. 93 New York City based male business owners com­pleted a survey into experiences of positive and negative discrimination by individuals with whom they do business. The data they provided suggest that men owners of childcare businesses do experience gender discrimination. Although some respondents reported preferential treatment from customers, on the whole the evidence points to greater negative than positive discrimination against male owners of childcare businesses.

Keywords

• gender segregation
• gender stereotyping
• men
• masculinities
• childcare