In Great Britain, there is a striking discrepancy between male and female caregivers: 84% of professional caregivers are women, whereas 16% are men. The association Care England wishes to raise public awareness to this phenomenon in order to encourage men to become professional carers.
There are only 16% male caregivers in the United Kingdom
As life habits change, the gap of life expectancy between men and women is slowly narrowing. Although women still live longer than men, the share and number of male elderly people in the British population is still increasing; many of them wish to have male caregivers providing care for them.
Care is still too often deemed a typically “feminine” value: as a result, jobs in care, early childhood and personal care are still dominated by women. Additionally, low wages and difficult working conditions may be a turn-off for people wishing to work in those fileds.
The Care England association wishes more men to become professional caregivers and is launching a call to encourage them to do so. Moreover, the U.K. Department of Health has stated it would encourage more people to work in care sectors whatever their gender is.
Published by the Editorial Staff on