Many countries in the world exhibit patterns where most teachers at the primary school level are female, with the proportion of male teachers increasing as the level of schooling increases. Men on the other hand often hold managerial positions, such as principals. Structural equality within the teaching profession is thus both an issue of equal opportunities and sex-based occupational segregation within the labour market. The 1998 UNESCO World Education Report suggests that teachers’ salaries would be higher if teaching were a male profession.

 Observations with regard to the issue of stereotypes and gender roles are worthy of note. A lack of male teachers at the primary school level, for example, means a lack of male role models for children at this age. This can reinforce stereotypes that claim only women are responsible for guiding, teaching and caring for children in their formative years.

 Given the high proportion of female graduates in the education field in the ECE region, it is interesting to examine the sex balance at different teaching levels. At the primary level, women teachers considerably outnumber men, with few exceptions. In several countries, more than 90 per cent of primary teachers are women, with a particularly high percentage of women teachers in Central and Eastern Europe.

 In secondary schools, women still make up more than half of all teachers in most countries. However, in those countries where the data allowed a distinction to be made between lower and upper secondary, there was a notable drop in the share of female teachers and increase in male teachers at the upper secondary level. The gender balance is reversed at the tertiary level, where teachers are generally more likely to be men than women. Only in the Baltic countries and Belarus are there roughly equal numbers of women and men teaching at the tertiary level.

 Examples of policies in the region:
Sweden: educational policy on achieving gender balance of teachers and students