A growing number of worried parents are demanding male workers in daycares do not change their children's nappies, dress them or take them to the toilet.
Some families are now demanding opt-in care waivers at childcare centres after several male workers were charged with serious sexual abuse offences.
One centre in Sydney received emails from six different families last week requesting that certain tasks only be performed by female staff members.
'I had a mother email me last week asking how she could submit an opt-in waiver for her child to have their nappy changed by female staff only,' another operator told the Daily Telegraph.
The early education sector has been thrust into the spotlight in recent weeks after Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown, 26, was charged with over 70 child abuse offences, including sexual penetration and producing child abuse material.
An urgent warning was issued to the parents of 1,200 children to take them to the doctor for STI testing.
A second male worker from Sydney was charged with seven counts of using a child under 14 to make abuse material in a separate, unrelated incident last week.
But childcare operators are concerned that male educators are being discriminated against and feel excluded from performing certain tasks.
Childcare centres are being inundated with requests from parents for only female staff to perform certain tasks.
Parents' concerns were heightened after Melbourne childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown was charged with over 70 child abuse offences.
Others said that juggling parents' demands, inclusion, and staffing had become a constant struggle at centres.
University of South Australia early educator senior lecturer Dr Martyn Mills-Bayne is concerned that opt-in waivers 'blur the line'.
'When men are excluded from any task that is an inherent requirement of their job description as early childhood educators and teachers, we risk creating a two-tiered workplace where all men are seen as inherently risky by parents, colleagues and the children they care for,' he said.
The allegations against Brown prompted Early Learning Journey to ban male staff from changing nappies and performing toileting duties at 18 centres across Victoria.
Chief curriculum and quality officer Eleinna Anderson maintained that male staff will still play a 'vital role' with activities, classroom preparation, and cleaning.
Staff have also been urged to refrain from unnecessary physical contact with children, including kissing. If offering emotional support, they need the child's consent to hug them or hold their hands.
Acting NSW Education and Early Learning Minister Courtney Houssos acknowledged that the childcare sector needs an overhaul to ensure children's safety.
'While I don't believe any government would introduce a scheme that actively discriminates against men, it is crucial that the early learning sector takes a risk-based approach that puts children first,' she said.
Earlier this month, Today Show host Karl Stefanovic weighed in on the fierce debate about whether men should be banned from childcare centres.
He said men already face challenges in the sector and didn't deserve to be banned.
'Men have a right to work in that area. And so many of them are dedicated,' Stefanovic said.
'The perception is already hard enough for them. And when a story like this happens, it makes it even more difficult for them.'
Recent childcare sex abuse incidents in NSW/ACT
- A 51-year-old man who worked at a centre in Glen Innes, in the Northern Tablelands, was arrested and charged with intentionally sexually touching a child under 10 years old involving eight victims in October 2024.
- In the same month, police charged daycare worker Quoc Phu Tong with alleged sexual touching of a young child at Only About Children in Seaforth, Northern Sydney. He pleaded guilty in January.
- A Sydney childcare worker, aged in his 20s, was charged with more than 10 counts of child abuse after he allegedly filmed himself abusing young boys while in the bathroom and classroom in the same month. He also allegedly pleasured himself in front of children in a classroom.
- In May, 2024, Timothy Doyle, 27, and his partner, 22-year-old Steven Garrad, were jailed for abusing 16 children in the Mid North Coast town of Kendall. The pair committed hundreds of serious child abuse offences including sexual intercourse with very young children.
- Ashley Paul Griffith - dubbed Australia's worst paedophile - was arrested in 2022 over 1,600 offences in childcare centres in Brisbane, Sydney and Italy between 2007 and 2022. He pleaded guilty to more than 300 charges and was sentenced to life in prison.
- In the same year, 30-year-old Muhammad Ali was charged with three counts of committing an act of indecency against three children at a Canberra daycare centre. In 2023, he was found guilty on one count.