Only 1 percent of preschool teachers in Iceland are men. The Icelandic Teachers’ Union discussed the situation at a meeting on Friday. Mayor of Reykjavík Dagur B. Eggertsson spoke at the meeting, saying that he is willing to take part in changing the situation.
“There’s reason to compliment the mayor on how seriously he is going to handle this issue,” Haraldur F. Gíslason, who chair of the Icelandic Preschool Teachers’ Union, told ruv.is, adding that now Dagur must stand by his words.
“It’s just as much a matter of equality to increase the number of men involved in the teaching of the youngest children as in increasing the number of women in the management of financial companies,” Haraldur stated.
Minister of Social Affairs Eygló Harðardóttir said the low percentage of men in the profession can only partly be explained by low salaries. “We have the presumption that only one of the genders is fit to perform this job and that is something we have to change.”
