The Gender Roles And Working Culture In The Nursing Industry - Essay Example

The Gender Roles And Working Culture In The Nursing Industry Introduction Mankind has traditionally perpetuated a form of working culture that defines roles based on the gender of the workers. Starting with the ancient agrarian societies, different cultures defined their gender norms regarding division of labor and attitudes. These gender and working cultures have contributed to the phenomenon that tends to place women lower in the socio-economic and political ranking of a majority of societies. Bearing in mind these challenges and perceptions, the advent of gender equality proponents and movements has sought to establish a level playing ground for men and women in the labor market. However, workplace culture and gender roles have been changing very radically in the past few decades. For instance, workplace roles traditionally associated with men or those ascribed to females have seen a shift in acceptance of the opposite gender. More women are taking up roles that were traditionally reserved for men (Mills, 2002). At the same time, men are also venturing into career lines that were assumed best suited for women. For instance, nursing was for a long time considered the preserve of women. Recently, more men have taken up nursing as a profession and can be found in many health facilities across the world (Cross & Baglihole, 2002). Meanwhile, it is not always easy for men to venture in professions culturally considered the preserve of women such as nursing. This essay explores the gender roles and working culture in the nursing industry with regards to sharing of roles among male and female nurses. The Traditional Nursing Profession The traditional nursing industry has been stereotyped in favor of women. Unknown to many quarters, this was not always the case. In fact, the domination of women in the nursing profession only began to emerge in the 1800s with largely unskilled female nurses providing the essential medical services. As early as 250 B.C. E nursing schools existed but admitted only men for training (Thompson, 2014). The oldest documented nursing school is believed to have been set up in India, which also recruited male students to care for the sick. In continental Europe, nursing services were provided by Christian organizations such as churches. For instance, when the Bubonic plague broke out in Europe, church organizations took over the role of caring for the sick and disposing of the dead. The Benedictine Nursing Order established by St. Benedict, as well as the Knights Hospitallers, are some of the earliest nursing institutions. Male nurses frequently played volunteer roles to care for the wounded during wars. However, the entry of Florence Nightingale ushered in an era of professional nursing in the modern era who were specifically trained for the job. Even though she was able to transform nursing to the noble and respected professional line that it is today, she also marked the exit of male workers (Thompson, 2014). With the stereotype that women tended to be more affectionate and caring compared to men, women quickly took over the nursing profession. The labor movements of the 1900s that championed the rights of women to vote among other issues further solidified the hold of female nurses. In the American Army, the Army Corps was constituted in 1901 and allowed only women to train excluding men. Moreover, the American Nurses Association founded as Nurses Associated Alumni in 1901 did not admit male nurses until 1930. It was another development that fuelled the general perception that women were more entitled to practice nursing as a profession. Since then, there has been a continued domination of women in the nursing practice (Perrone, Wright, & Jackson, 2009). Consequently, statistics has continued to be in favor of female nurses in medical facilities across the world. For instance, in England, out of every ten nurses, 9 are likely to be women. In the light of these discrepancies in gender ratios, the worldwide shortage in nurses has also fuelled the entry of more men into the nursing school. In fact, there has never been an acceptable number of nurses the world over. It makes it even more imperative to increase the number of nurses of both genders to meet this shortfall (Kouta & Kaite, 2011). Pertinent Gender Issues in the Nursing Profession Human socialization relating to gender roles and division of labor has always been guided by gender perceptions. The modern nursing profession has been no exception to the gender ascription. For example, Florence Nightingale’s image in nursing has shaped the perception of how the model nurse should be; self-sacrificing, and humble. These attributes have almost always been attributed to women more than men. Therefore, the modern perception of a nurse has pointed in the direction of women (Paustian-Underdahl, Walker, & Woehr, 2014). Sociologists and researchers agree that the stereotypical perception concerning women as the model nurses as opposed to men have contributed to the relatively slow uptake of nursing as a profession for males. In a 2005 survey commissioned by the American Assembly for nursing, 73% of the 598 male nurses who were interviewed cited negative perceptions as the reason there were very few male nurses in the United States. Moreover, nursing training was cited to have been skewed in favor of female trainees, therefore, lacking gender neutrality as well as not attending to the needs of male students (Kouta & Kaite, 2011). At the workplace, the capacity of male nurses to attend to female patients has also brought to the fore the unique challenges they face. For instance, some studies have disclosed that female clients often experience distress when male nurses provide intimate care to patients. These intimate medical services include examination of the breasts or the genital areas. While patients retain the right to decide the gender of nurses who can attend to them, this decision brings to the fore gender discrimination of male nurses (Kouta & Kaite, 2011). Socially construed gender roles have, therefore, worked against male nurses even in modern days of the nursing profession. The Re-entry of Men in the Nursing Profession Male medical students decide to venture into the nursing profession for many reasons. Self-actualization is one of the motivating factors for the increasing numbers of men in the nursing profession that has for over a century been dominated by women. However, a good number of males decide to become nurses after being unable to find slots in the often competitive school of medicine (Sridevy, 2014). Nursing, therefore, present an opportunity to serve humanity, earn decent salaries and secure job opportunities even as economies and opportunities shrink. However, these male nurses encounter a profession that is primarily identified as a woman’s domain. Consequently, their masculinity and sexuality is often questioned. The feminization of nursing as a profession has led to minimal entry of men into nursing school. It has also been documented that male nurses are more likely than female nurses to resign from their nursing positions four years after graduation from nursing school (McLaughlin, Muldoon, & Moutray, 2010). Despite attempted reversals to the domination of nursing by female professionals from the 1970s, male nurses constitute a minority. For instance, in Canada, The United States and Britain, male nurses account for only 5%-10% of the nursing workforce. While many males might regard the nursing profession as emasculating, male nurses already in the profession tend to be given administrative or other senior positions (Paustian-Underdahl, Walker, & Woehr, 2014). According to Porter-O'Grady ( 2011), part of the reason many male nurses occupy relatively senior positions stems from the fact that as opposed to their female counterparts who take breaks like maternity leaves, men do not. Some studies suggest that male nurses are ten times less likely to take career breaks than their female counterparts (Connell & Wood, 2005). Moreover, gender perceptions in the profession contend that males should be assigned to the emergency rooms rather than in the wards. Additionally, though men are vastly outnumbered by women in nursing practice, the nursing profession managers regard them as staff. Staff who bring an element of stability in the nursing practice (Paustian-Underdahl, Walker, & Woehr, 2014). Conclusion The nursing profession continues to be a female-dominated field despite sustained attempts to incorporate gender neutrality. Stereotypical perceptions among the general population as well as in the medical nursing fraternity also continue to account for the low number of male nurses. However, it will take a long duration to deconstruct perceptions about nursing as a female-only profession in order to harness the talent pool required to address the shortage of nurses. While in many career lines such as leadership and management, women have demonstrated to be as competent as their male counterparts. In regard to these observations, in nursing it should also be recognized that a professional’s abilities, competence and passion cannot be solely pegged on their gender. Fortunately, in many cases, patients have tended to be non-discriminatory on the gender of the nurses to attend to them. It implies acceptance of males in the nursing profession will be achievable. References Connell, R., & Wood, J. (2005). Globalization and Business Masculinities. Men and Masculinities, 7(4) , 347-364. Cross, S., & Baglihole, B. (2002). Girls' Jobs for the Boys? Male, Masculinity and Non- Traditional Occupations. Gender, Work and Organization, 9(2) , 204-226. Kouta, C., & Kaite, C. (2011). Gender Discrimination and Nursing: A Literature Review. Journal of Professional Nursing, 27(1) , 59-63. McLaughlin, K., Muldoon, O., & Moutray, M. (2010). Gender, Gender Roles and Completion of Nursing Education: A Longitudinal Study. Nurse Education Today, 30 , 303-307. Mills, A. (2002). Cockpits, Hangars, Boys and Galleys: Corporate Masculinities and the Development of British Airways. Gender, Work and Organization, 5(3) , 172- 188. Paustian-Underdahl, S., Walker, L., & Woehr, D. (2014). Gender and Perceptions of Leadership Effectiveness: A Meta-Analysis of Contextual Moderators. Journal of Applied Psychology, Online . Perrone, K., Wright, S., & Jackson, Z. (2009). Traditional and Non-Traditional Gender Roles and Work-Family Interface for Men and Women. Journal of Career Development, 36(1) , 8-24. Porter-O'Grady, D. (2011). Future of Nursing Special: Leadership at All Levels. Nursing Management, 42(5) , 32-37. Sridevy, S. (2014). An Exploratory Study of Student Nurses' Perceptions of Gender. Minority Nurse , n.p. Thompson, K. (2014, n.p). Rethinking Gender Stereotypes in Nursing. Retrieved November 1, 2014, from www.minoritynurse.com/article/rethinking-gender-stereotypes-nursing Read More