Ban male nursery workers?

[BluntPlumHam]

I came across this article which has left me quite sick.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cze665j2y51o.amp

Said 18 year old was newly qualified nursery worker who’d SA’d and raped 3 year olds.

Nurseries are desperate for workers and I have noticed through friends and families that there is now an increasing number of men entering the profession.

Men traditionally haven’t performed this role and I often find it difficult to envisage what attracts a male to this profession to begin with when we have so many instances of men who run away from childcare responsibilities.

Although men entering the profession can be a positive outcome the other very concerning outcome and on the potential rise is this.

Sex offenders will target this profession no doubt as it gives them easy access to children.

men are significantly more likely than women to sexually assault children.
Official statistics consistently show that the vast majority of individuals convicted of, or reported for, child sexual abuse (CSA) are male. For example:

• In the year ending March 2019, the Crime Survey for England and Wales found that 92% of adults who reported experiencing CSA said the perpetrator was male only.
• In 2022/23, almost 99% of individuals convicted of child sexual abuse offences in the UK were men.
• Reports to the Australian Royal Commission by victims and survivors of institutional abuse revealed that 93.9% of the abuse was perpetrated by an adult man.

So just a blanket ban on them all together ?

It isn’t my personal opinion but I do think we ought to have measures in place to make nurseries more secure and safer. This thread is to invite discussion.

Also, kudos to those brave little 3 year olds who had the courage to tell their parents because they’ve saved a lot of potential victims in the future. My thoughts and wishes for a life time of healing for them and theirs.

No poll enabled speaks volumes as OP probably knew posters would kick her arse for being sexist.
I get what she is saying, to a point, but women abuse kids too, my d worked in a nursery ans whistle blew on three workers pulling kids around by their arms and shouting in their faces. D left as a result as she was horrified by it as was I when she told me.
Nothing was done as two of them were managers, but the college student got the boot and my d only found this out as she was friends from another worker in another room. There were no cameras in the abuse room as a couple of parents had said they didn't want them, the nursery chain wouldn't install as a result.

Sure but then ban the following just to be ‘safe’

1. All male primary teachers especially at reception age.
2. Male doctors for women particularly gynaecologists, obstetricians and psychiatrists.
3. Male nurses in n childrens wards or for vulnerable people including the elderly.
4. etc etc

YABVU

Most murders of children in nurseries are done by women. Let's therefore ban all women from working in nurseries as well and instead let robots take over care of children.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/20/kate-roughley-guilty-killing-nine-month-old-genevieve-meehan-stockport-nursery

OP and others who are suggesting that men should be banned for working in nurseries, thank goodness people like you, with bigoted and prejudiced views, will never actually be allowed anywhere near a position where you can actually influence change like this. I feel sorry for your children.

Absolutely ridiculous. If you want to try and reduce this kind of thing happening we need to increase ratios and make sure no nursery workers are left alone with any child.

I don't think you are since clearly your mind is made up

Was that the young blonde lady (about 19) who was sentence for "Pinching" children at the daycare centre and then blamed it on getting cranky for not being able to vape?

Absolutely this that @TheNightingalesStarling has said. It’s the procedures that need to be stricter and tight as hell to ensure nobody has the ability to harm children in these settings.

There is one male worker at DSs nursery. He is a father of 2 himself. He is fantastic!

Whilst I don't agree that Men shouldn't work in caring professions, I also recognise that this is a gross generalisation. Women working outside of cooking and cleaning do not present a danger of child sexual abuse.

I think that the answer is that any person of any gender can work in a caring role but they should be vetted thoroughly, reasonably paid and there should be good safeguarding so that one adult should never be alone with one child and there is adequate CCTV to monitor this.

we cannot forget that just because it’s men we see in the news more often, women do this too. A lot of women have been found to have abused children in their care , women rape men, women abuse men - it’s just not reported as much.

The statistics just don’t support what you’re trying to suggest here. Men commit child sexual offences far more than women do.

Obviously male Doctor's, nurses, sports coaches and teachers should all be banned too.

Some of the best nursery workers my DC had were male. 16yo girls often end up in childcare roles by default, where boys actively choose to do something unexpected.

That said, I'd never pick a male childminder. By then, I don't think I'd chose a female childminder either, for similar though different reasons.

In nurseries, there should be enough staff around and a culture that ensures that no children can be mistreated in any way.

The problem is underfunding and staff ratios.

I actually think the opposite - that more men should be employed in early years settings, to show they can be just as caring and a good influence on young children. To fight against the misogynistic stereotype that childcare is “women’s work” both in and out of the household.

So, at what age would those who want them banned think it is okay for male workers to be in caring professions, consider the stats for elder abuse aren't really that different if I recall correctly?

I get why people would feel this way after such a horrific story, but there are better ways to do safeguarding than by sex.

There is no way to completely mitigate risk, but comparing a father of member of the family (known, trusted people), to effectively a total stranger is not a fair one.

You're right, there is no comparison - a family member is vastly more likely to abuse than a total stranger.

YANVVU

our nursery had a male member of staff and he's great. Some of our children have never seen a man read a book and I love that they're learning that childcare isn't just women's work.

we have insanely robust safer recruitment and safeguarding protocols in place and that's what matters; not the sex of the staff:

I normally lose interest when someone has to start making veiled insults to try and validate their opinion.

Male doctors and nurses have a chaperone when dealing with anything intimate (here anyway).

Sports coaches and teachers shouldn't be anywhere near individual children going to the toilet or getting changed.

YABU, old fashioned gender stereotype, as bad as saying women shouldn’t work.

I think you need to go and read my op again then.

Thankfully there are plenty of posters on here adding meaningful thoughts to this discussion. There is still room for intellectual dialogue on this platform where one can pose a question on important topics.

I am ignoring any goading sort of responses suggesting this is personal in anyway.

One weakness of this discussion is that it focusses almost exclusively on sexual abuse. It’s clearly true that the majority of this is perpetrated by men. But a couple of posters have pointed out examples of female nursery workers abusing and even murdering children, not out of sexual motivation but just because they lost their temper.

I don’t know of any statistics but my guess is the significant majority of abusive behaviour in nurseries is non-sexual in nature. This doesn’t make it any less serious, especially if the child concerned ends up dead.

By focussing exclusively on sexual abuse - which is obviously important - we can overlook other, potentially more prevalent dangers.

We also overlook the fact that the vast majority of sexual abuse of children happens inside the home by men known to the mother. If you want to keep your children safe from sexual abuse, the most important thing you can do isn’t worrying about nursery workers. The most important thing you can do is not moving an unrelated man into your children’s home.

It’s not a stereotype. It’s a fact that men are much more likely to sexually abuse children. They are a much higher risk group than women even if the majority of childcare workers are female.

wtf? where the hell did that come from?! I don't agree with the OP but you're just being a twat.

YABU. How far do you want to take this idea? No contact from men at all after birth? All fathers banned from kids lives? Castrate all male babies?
How about - ensure nurseries have safe practices in place to safeguard children from all predators - female and male.

No way would that be an appropriate solution, dd had an incredibly kind nursery worker who was male. I am a very cautious person and probably err on the side of being over protective of her, but I trusted him completely, he was a really good role model and helped with her development. He is absolutely the type of person wo should be doing the job.

YABU.