Job Discussion Forums

[CyberStylz]

Hi All!!

I'm just trying to get a feel of the guy/girl ratio in this industry...

[PanamaTeacher]

your methodology will not give you the data you want
try it another way (how many males or females in dave's esl cafe newbie forum that have an interest in answering your question are male or female?)

so far you have one male

[CyberStylz]

Good point! I realised that about 10 mins after my post. If some people out working can give me their insight on the ratios, that would be great too.

[dyak]

But where is all this data going? Are you an insider? Are you practicing for teaching level 1? Am I me and you you? Agghhhh... I'm paranoid, and male.

[Celeste]

When I was teaching EFL in Vancouver, Canada, the majority of the teachers were women(My school had a staff of 20 teachers and there were only 5 men on staff.). In Korea, it was overwhelmingly a male dominated industry(In my city I knew about 40 foreign teachers and only 5 of them were women). In Japan, there are more women teachers than there were in Korea, but I would say that teachers here are still predominantly male(Kindergartens and elementary schools are often looking for women teachers here. When I go out with my friends, the foreign guys definitely outnumber the women by about 2 to 1).

[Sherri]

When our school advertises for teachers (in Tokyo) out of every 100 applications about 85 to 90 are from men.

[khmerhit]

A few years back, you could count the number of women teachers in cambodia on one hand. that has changed now you need two hands.
Seriously, not many foreign women-- to such an extent, at one point, that they were intimidated by all the guys. Of course, they guys were more intimidated by them, truth be told. But that, as they say, is another story.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

The university EFL progam in which I teach is dominated by women, both in numbers and attitude.

As for foreign EFL teachers in this city, it seems to me that there are more women than men, but I have no data to support this, just casual observation.

[PanamaTeacher]

same in panama as ben reports in mexico

[Shonai Ben]

My experience in Japan has been the opposite.Most of the teachers that I have met and worked with were men.The office staff in the schools were all women,no men.I have never worked for the "big" eikaiwas though,so I cannot speak for them.

[Linda L.]

What a sexist post!!

There are also she/males, transvestities and some other curious biological mutations and surgical creations around. Then there are the gender benders, lesbians, homosexuals, transexuals, cross-dressers and those of other persuations etc.

So how do you define male and female? Is this a birth biology? What about those who feel that their birth sex was a mistake and have taken measures to correct that situation?

Another example of narrow minded [teachers].

[khmerhit]

all right, all right, inclusivist Linda. I tender an apology on behalf of my myopic and intolerant colleagues. Some of us were busy being re-programmed down at the Gender Behaviour Modification Centre on Skinner Avenue--- or was it in Harvard Yard? .

[MindTraveller]

I think part of it is a male/female adventurer problem. Culturally in the West, men are encouraged to travel alone and take risks, while women have been taught the opposite.

It's also a hiring thing. In Arabia, more men are university teachers than women. I ran into this problem back in the USA when I was hired as a university teacher back in 1979. Of the 30 teachers in the English Dept., only 5 were female. At one teachers' meeting, I heard a male colleague complain about there being too many women in the Dept.

Teaching university has prestige around the world. Arabian universities often hire PhDs even to teach English. If you're from a non-Western country, and female, your chances of getting a PhD are much slimmer than a male's.

Sorry, went off the track. Got international about women overseas.

Saudi Arabia, despite being so harsh to live in, was able to find MANY women native English speakers as well as Arabic professors for its university in Riyadh back in 1984. Sometimes, however, it had to rely on male professors to teach the women in fields such as medical training.

So I think it's a Western cultural thing - that Western women aren't as compelled or driven as men to travel, risk everything, etc. in a foreign culture. The risks for single women travelling and living outside their home countries are higher than for single men - in every culture.

It may also be that more young men are rootless (without strong, emotional ties to people) and willing to 'teach English overseas' without any or minimal training, while women may be more practical and get the training first..... Then while getting the training, women make roots (family, friends, jobs) and then become reluctant to leave the country.

Now, on THESE opinions, I don't mind being flamed. Sexism is always an entertaining war of words. Something for everyone.

I'm a woman, if you haven't guessed by now.

[Guest]

[RachelA_Broad]

Sheep-goats...I'm interested in one bit you threw in about this poll being off,