Speaker
Description
This study examines how Vietnamese online news discursively construct the identities of male kindergarten teachers working in a traditionally feminized profession. Analyzing 47 articles published between 2020 and 2025, the research employs a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach to identify recurring strategies used to frame male educators as morally exemplary, emotionally competent, and exceptionally resilient. Media narratives often depict male preschool teachers as rare and extraordinary, with the ability to perform care work being portrayed as unexpected and praiseworthy. These representations rely on essentialist gender ideologies that associate caregiving with femininity, while simultaneously framing men’s participation through neoliberal ideals of perseverance and individual effort. The result is a form of “soft masculinity” that blends emotional labor with traditionally respected masculine traits. While such portrayals may appear inclusive, they ultimately reinforce discursive asymmetries by exceptionalizing men’s presence and upholding gendered divisions of labor. Rather than disrupting gender hierarchies, these narratives re-center male authority within a female-dominated space.
Biography
The author is currently a lecturer at University of Languages and International Studies, VNU. She has conducted studies on various subjects, such as computerized pronunciation training, teaching methodology and identity development. Her research interests include teacher identity, teaching methodology, computer-assisted language learning, and materials development.
