Negotiating Masculinities: the Experience of Male Teachers in Indonesian Early Childhood Education
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Negotiating Masculinities: The Experience of Male Teachers in Indonesian Early Childhood Education Hani Yulindrasari ORCID ID 0000-0002-6448-6041 Thesis submitted to the University of Melbourne as the total fulfilment for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy July 2017 School of Social and Political Science The University of Melbourne Australia Abstract Since the fall of President Suharto, the New Order’s hegemonic masculinity has been increasingly contested and reconfigured. This thesis expands understandings of historical and contemporary formations of Indonesian masculinities. It focuses particularly on ‘nurturing masculinities’ by examining the gender narratives and practices of men who teach kindergarten age children. Specifically, this research demonstrates how male teachers navigate social expectations about their work and gender identity in a female-dominated and feminised profession. It adopts a focused ethnography research design that combines in-depth interviews with classroom observations. Interviews were undertaken with eight male teachers from five schools and their female colleagues, student’s parents, and the school’s principals and managers. Observations took place in classrooms and the broader school environment in order to record male teacher’s interactions with students and teachers and the alignment with their personal narratives. This thesis shows the dynamics through which hegemonic masculinity is constantly being both defended and challenged by male teachers. The discourse of nurture, which is pervasive in the early childhood profession, is the modality through which the negotiations of masculinity take place. The thesis shows how male teachers reorient both gendered discourses of nurture and understandings of hegemonic masculinity in their self-narratives about their work and in their workplace interactions. ii Declaration of Originality I declare that this thesis (i) is an original work and is an account of research carried out by myself while enrolled as a PhD candidate at The University of Melbourne, (ii) does not contain material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any University, nor material published or written by another person, except where due reference is made, (iii) is fewer than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, bibliographies and appendices. Hani Yulindrasari iii Acknowledgements I am forever indebted to my supervisors: Dr Kalissa Alexeyeff and Associate Professor Katharine McGregor who have in many ways patiently guided and supported me through the journey of my candidature. Their support and encouragement have strengthened, inspired, and enabled me to finish this project. I would also like to thank the chair of the panel: Professor Sheila Jeffrey in the first year of candidature, and Dr Terry Macdonald who kindly took the job from the second year to the end. My research at the University of Melbourne has been funded by the Directorate of Higher Education, the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education of Indonesia. I am also grateful for the support from the Department, including Professor Adrian Little, Professor John Murphy, and Dr Kate Farhall, especially with their help on the scholarship for my last semester at the University. To the big family of Fastrack Funschool and other schools in Bandung, thank you for accepting me with open arms during the fieldwork in their schools. Without their cooperation and openness, this thesis would not be possible. To my colleague and a good friend, Ali Nugraha, thank you for opening an access to the Early Childhood Education Directorate of the Ministry of Education and Culture and the early childhood teacher association. My thanks also go to my fellow women PhD candidates: Aninda, Kanti, Josie, Tiwik, Septaliana, Dharma, Windy, Dewi, Dian, Zubeth, Roro, Thembi without them this journey would have been very lonely. Also thanks to my best friends: Vina, Sarita, Miftah and Fitri; my fellow Diktiers: Endang and Bagas; and the family of PGPAUD UPI, for their support throughout my PhD journey. I dedicate my thesis to my little family: my husband, Tulus Mugiyono, who has sacrificed his career back home, postponed his dreams and faced the unknown to support me, and my children Galuh and Bimo, who always understand me and in many ways are the source of my strength. This thesis is also for my parents: Papa iv As’ari Djohar and Mama Iwa Pergiwati in Bandung, Bapak Mitro Utomo and Ibu Mujiyem in Purworejo, and my brothers and sisters. Without their prayers, I would not have been strong enough to face this most challenging academic journey. Alhamdulillah, all praise and greatest gratitude be to Allah! May my work be my path to Your blessing, ya Allah! The interviews and secondary materials in this thesis were written in Indonesian; all translations are mine unless stated otherwise. Parts of Chapters 3 and 4 have been published in conference proceedings as Yulindrasari, Hani. 2016. ‘Conflicting Social Perceptions of Men Who Teach in Indonesian Kindergartens’. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR) 58 (ICECE-16): 233–8. doi:10.2991/icece-16.2017.41; and a small part of Chapter 2 has been published as a blog article Yulindrasari, Hani. 2014. “Hail the hero: Playing the man in Indonesian politics.” Indonesia at Melbourne, June 26. http://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/hail-the-hero-playing-the-man-in- indonesian-politics/ v Contents Abstract ................................................................................... ii Declaration of Originality ....................................................... iii Acknowledgements ................................................................... iv Contents .................................................................................. vi List of Figures ...................................................................... viii List of Abbreviations ............................................................... ix Glossary ................................................................................ xiv Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................ 1 Moral Panics and Masculinity ............................................................................. 3 Masculinities: Hegemonic and Plural ................................................................ 11 Gender and Labour in Indonesia ....................................................................... 14 Studies of Indonesian Masculinities .................................................................. 20 Gender and Education in Indonesia ................................................................... 24 Men in Early Childhood Education ................................................................... 27 Situating the Thesis ........................................................................................... 30 Methodology ...................................................................................................... 32 Thesis Overview ................................................................................................ 41 Chapter 2: Masculinities in Indonesia .............................................. 45 Hegemonic Indonesian Gender Ideology: Kodrat ............................................. 47 Women as Housewives and Mothers ............................................................. 50 ‘Real’ Men ..................................................................................................... 52 Contesting ‘Real’ Men ...................................................................................... 57 Men as Leaders .............................................................................................. 60 ‘Heroic’ Men ................................................................................................. 63 Working Men ................................................................................................. 65 Counter-Hegemonic Masculinity: Men as Loving Husbands and Caring Fathers ........................................................................................................... 70 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 75 Chapter 3: Teachers with Maternal Souls ................................ 77 Maternalism in Early Childhood Education ...................................................... 78 The History of Early Childhood Education in Indonesia .................................. 82 The ‘Glass Door’ Barriers to Men’s Participation in Early Childhood Education ....................................................................................................... 91 Risky Men ...................................................................................................... 91 Gender-blind Policy ....................................................................................... 97 Low Salaries ................................................................................................ 103 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 108 Chapter 4: Protective Fathers: Social Perceptions and Expectations of Male Teachers in Early Childhood Education 110 Fastrack Funschool’s Progressive Values ....................................................... 112 Gender and Nature ........................................................................................... 117 vi Nurturing