Traces the changing views on the role and status of male early childhood education teachers in the forties and fifties (male prohibition), the sixties and early seventies (the macho image), and the late seventies and early eighties (the age of androgyny).

Speech delivered at NAEYC's National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development explores changing perspectives on social needs, and suggests building a sense of community and improving teacher education as ways to support children and families in need. (HTH)

Maintains that the reasons behind child care workers' low pay are inequitable wages for women, devaluation of children, and minimization of the skill involved in working with children. (BB)