Many parents are happy for men to look after their children

The Daycare Trust says most parents would be happy to leave their children with male carers - but only one in 30 childcare workers are men.

The main barrier preventing men from joining the industry is the suspicion they might be suspected of paedophilia, it says.

Low status and pay are also deterrents, with many childcare workers earning little more than the national minimum wage.

Research carried out by the trust suggests that 84% of parents would be willing to employ a man to look after their child.

"Attitudes are changing," trust spokeswoman Megan Pacey told BBC News.

'Prejudice'

"Where parents have had an interaction with a childcare worker who is male it has been a very, very positive experience.

"Parents today are generally very welcoming of more men working in childcare."

It's viewed as a female environment Ross Adams, male childcare worker

She said if pay and status were raised, then more men might be attracted to the profession.

Ross Adams, who has been a childcare worker for eight years and is now deputy manager of a Cheshire nursery, said he found the job challenging and enjoyable - but understood why he had few male colleagues.

"I think the reason why more men aren't doing this kind of work is to do with social attitude and prejudice towards it.

"It's viewed as a female environment, " he said.

Ms Pacey said a government recruitment drive for both men and women hoped to increase the number of men in the childcare industry to 6% of the total the workforce.

Education Secretary Charles Clarke acknowledged many childcare workers were poorly paid, at a conference in London on Thursday.

He said it was a "serious problem" for the early years education and childcare sector.

"We need to raise the esteem for people working in the sector - that includes a whole range of things, that includes pay," he told delegates at the event held by the Pre-School Learning Alliance.