Gender Bias In Nursing Care Essay

As of 2013, around 353,000 babies were born in one day, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Be Fruitful and Multiply). Delivering babies is very difficult and strenuous, luckily labor and delivery nurses are trained to help care for the mother during the process of welcoming her newborn into the world safely. Labor and delivery nurses play a very crucial role in helping the delivery of babies and bringing safety and peace to the mother. I am choosing to pursue a career as a labor and delivery nurse because they get to provide care to babies, they get paid well, and they get to assist in the delivery process.

Researchers have proposed a variety of explanations for systematic gender inequality in the workplace. Cultural benefits, the actions of male employees, the actions of the female employees, and the actions of the employer can contribute to intentional or unintentional gender discrimination (Ngo, Foley, Wong, & Loi, 2003). It has also been mentioned that women make less money because their work environment is generally safer than the stereotypical male work environment; childcare, cashiers, and secretary positions as opposed to firefighters, truck drivers and construction workers (Parcheta, Kaifi, & Khanfar, 2013). Perhaps the most dominant reasoning for women receiving less pay is the carrying over of biological roles into the workplace. Female employees often take time off to have a family, take care of a family, and are the primary caregiver of said family.

While there are a lot of responsibilities that nurses have to do most of the nurses being female or males do their work good

In today's job market, a person's sex still can play a role in the progressing in their career. Typically, the younger female’ employees were looked upon as followers, not leaders; and offered jobs of servitude, with lower pay. While their male co-workers enjoyed the higher paid leadership roles. In addition, women of childbearing years were denied employment by employers because of their state of pregnancy or being a mother was frowned upon. Because many employers associated young women of childbearing years and motherhood with chronic absenteeism lateness and poor productivity.

Advanced degrees are popular among male nursing students, they are financially and personally rewarding. For males entering

A nurse has an unthinkable amount of duties included in their practice. Nurses are educators, advisors, researchers, administrators, communicators, innovators, and collaborators. Nurses complete optimal procedures and consults, provide referrals for patients, participate in educating healthcare professionals, and can specialize in certain fields (Wickham, 2013). A nurse that specializes in labour and delivery performs many of the same roles as a midwife; however, there are still obvious differences between the two providers. A labour and delivery nurse has the ability to carry out routine and direct patient care in their area, assess and adjust medications as required, coordinate and facilitate discharge planning and take part of any role in the prenatal, perinatal and postnatal procedures (Wickham, 2013).

Thus explaining that regardless of one’s skill set they base the choice of career or lack of career on their cultural beliefs and when a male or female steps outside of the boundary that society has placed they are chastised for their decision. For example, in 2013 94% of nurses were females and only 6% were males, Wilson (2013) indicated the primary reason for this being that society views nursing as a care taking role with the best nurses having a maternal instinct (p. 1). Therefore, placing a more family orientated role on the nursing field. Although, Wilson (2013) also established that regardless of nursing being a more female orientated career, males still made approximately $1,100 more than their female counterparts. Leading to the realization that society even in a female oriented career field still places more value on men than women when it comes to a career driven

Even after decades, not much has changed regarding men in this specific career path. When we see movies like “meet the parents” in which the father in law constantly makes fun of Ben Stiller for being a male nurse when he clearly loves his job doesn’t seem to be fair. It is interesting to note that women today have taken positions in programs such as engineering, medicine, and law. However, they are not talked about as much as men in nursing field. Although females continue to exceed men as nurses significantly, the stats of male nurses have increased. The document “Men in nursing occupations” by liana Christian

New advertisements for the nursing field include posters designed for this campaign aimed to boost the attractiveness of the image of men in nursing by illustrating concepts of brotherhood, belonging, men helping men, and leading the way. One of the recent posters out there shows a student nurse "reverse mentoring" another nurse with technology proving that this is an educational line of work. AAMN, American Assembly for Men in Nursing, hopes that these contemporary images of professional, compassionate, and competent nurses will chip away at stereotypes about men in nursing (Stokowski

Both male and female nurses face oppression in the healthcare workplace. Sometimes it is hard to say which gender faces oppression more. There are many reports of harassment and oppression of gender in America’s healthcare places. According to Embree, “Nearly 60% of new nurses leave their initial employer within the first six months due to NNLV perpetrated in the workplace” (Embree). Healthcare officials do not like to see a rise in workplace reports.

Nursing was usually considered as a female type profession. However, throughout the recent years, it has become popular for men as well. In spite the fact that nursing a common career choice for men, there are still many stereotypes and misconceptions connected with being a male nurse (Jerpi, 2016). The goal of this essay is to find an answer and a solution to the question, “Why do male nursing stereotypes exist?”

The Motion picture film, “Sentimental Women Need Not Apply”, highlighted that the first group of nursing students were all white women (1988). Black women were unwelcomed in some nursing schools hence nursing schools were establish for colored people only (Gary & Hott, 1988). One nurse shared that the lack of black doctors rendered black nurses as the sole healthcare providers in some communities. After years of speaking out against segregation, any capable human, regardless of race or gender can now become a nurse. In the 21st century both men and women of all cultures are welcome to becoming a nurse. Though nursing remains a female dominated profession, the gap between male and female nurses has narrowed. In 1970, three percent of nurses were males compared to ten percent in 2013 (Tanner,

The stigma that females become nurses and males become doctors is outragous, and has lead to discrimination toward male nurses or female doctors. Either field requires a certain level of work and patience, which both sexes can achieve equally. Neither male nor female nurses

Male nurses are not typically encouraged by the society we live in today. Men are not in favor of being called nurses and maybe would have a bit more encouragement if the caregiver word would simply be changed from ‘nurse’ to ‘medic’ (Gorgos). Just the change in title can make a positive difference to both men and women in the nursing field. Men and women enter the nursing career with the same goals and interests; but are still yet separated by the name ‘nurse’ and ‘male nurse’ (Kouta). Eddie Hebert a 35-year nursing veteran claims that the caregiver one usually pictures a white woman. This image is being projected into the American public. He believes that, “Caregiving is not feminine; it's universal.” The lack of men in nursing though is, “a result of cultural stereotypes and image” (Gorgos). On the

Among twenty leading female-dominated professions, registered nurses (RN’s) are the second most occupation that employed women in 2006¬. Similar to many traditionally female professions, the percentage of male in nursing is small. In fact, male nurses only comprised eight percent of RN’s in 2008. Although much effort has been made to recruit more men into nursing, many contributing factors have driven them away from this profession. Those factors include poor nursing image, negative public perception, low economic status, and gender stereotypes. One of the most significant factors that deter men from entering the profession is stereotypes. Research shows that men might be more likely to encounter stereotypes than discrimination;