Maybe we need more male teachers for kindergarten and the younger grades. Perhaps some sort of affirmative action or preferential hiring for male teachers for k through 6th grades?
Raising the respect and salary of teachers would be a good starting point. Preferential hiring to balance the gender ratio of role models in a school may be helpful as well.
> I find that the gender bias does not differ by teachers’ gender in literature, and only marginally in math. In this subject, female teachers are less biased in favor of girls than male teachers
So adding more male teachers might marginally increase the discrimination rather than decrease it.
This is a societal / financial issue.
Societal because boys see education as a woman's job, which is reinforced through their educational experience of having mostly female teachers.
Financial because as much as Americans like to think that they live in a progressive society, males are typically expected to be the primary income earner. Education simply does not pay well; particularly when you consider the education and credentials required. Education in the United States has added increased prerequisites to become a teacher in a public school. In all likelihood, your child's teacher either already has or is working on their master's in education to maintain their teaching credentials. If they have aspirations of being an administrator they are likely working on a doctorate. This to earn a maximum annual salary of less than $100,000 and only after decades of working for a school district.
This is like the mythical pool of untapped female engineering talent VPs of Diversity and Inclusion imply exists.
It’s not really like software engineering where people have to know algorithms and do whiteboard exercises. It’s about credentials and desire.
You have similar gender gaps in nursing as well.
British teaching unions shot it down - said it was misogynistic to hire men as it implied women weren’t doing a good enough job. This logic of course doesn’t apply to tech.
At the same time, the idea that mainly women should solve the problem of "young boys need positive male role models" seems ironic. I'm sure many women do care because they want their sons to thrive, but men want their sons to thrive too, right?