This special issue brings together a group of articles exploring the possibilities for gender transformation that exist within early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings in an international context. It includes contributions from a variety of Global-North and -South countries, such as Australia, China, England, Germany, Israel, Norway, and South Africa. The authors share the optimistic belief that ECEC offers a rich site for practitioners/teachers to challenge gender stereotypes and to

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... nterrogate the gender binary that perpetuates a gender essentialist discourse in the care and education of young children. Inspired by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and particularly by Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4 ('Ensure inclusive and quality education for all') & 5 ('Achieve gender equality') (United Nations 2015), this special issue aims to inform pedagogies and practices that will promote gender diversity and equality in ECECultimately providing all children with enriched experiences in their early life and supporting all children to achieve their full potential. Our special issue particularly provides insights into the internationally well-rehearsed debates on whether men's participation in children's education and care could contribute to an enriched ECEC environment for children (Rohrmann and Emilsen 2015; Xu and Waniganayake 2018; Warin 2019; McGrath et al. 2019), in a context of continuing gender imbalance in recruitment to ECEC work (Warin 2018). In the OECD (2019) Good Practice for Good Jobs in Early Childhood Education and Care report, it is mentioned that '[t]o promote quality and improve the supply of potential workers, countries should engage in stronger efforts to bring men into ECEC' (OECD 2019, 5). According to this report, men working in ECEC can potentially improve process quality and child development and learning. In particular, this may influence children's attitudes towards gender roles. Recognising that men can be significant contributors to high-quality ECEC, this special issue argues that practitioners' multiple gender subjectivities and identities go beyond the gender binary of being men or women. The diversity of practitioners' genders plays a significant role in influencing their pedagogical values and practices that contribute to children's dynamic experiences in ECEC. The papers in this special issue suggest that practitioner versatility is a guiding principle for child-led practices. An ECEC child-centred ethic requires a flexible practitioner who can switch from cuddles and quietness to boisterous physical play. A restricted gender identity can inhibit ECEC practitioners from using the flexible range of skills that is needed for work with young children. This special issue addresses several research gaps in the academic literature. Firstly, it raises an emerging theoretical approach that goes beyond gender binaries in understanding men's and women's roles in ECEC pedagogies and practices. The authors question the underlying (theoretical) rationales of gender balance and binary thinking in calling for more men to work in ECEC sectors and proposes gender-sensitive and flexible pedagogies and practices with implications for pre-service and in-service practitioner training in different parts of the world. Secondly, it offers cross-cultural perspectives to the variety of gender discourses in both