Essay about Nursing: Why Not Men?

Nursing was a challenge to the individual and I had to experience an identity I had never previously thought about which was being a male within a predominantly female career field. As Yang et al. (2004) showed males in their study work towards promotion and strive on a long term goal of personal growth. In previous fields I had always fought for advancement and now I still do and have been equally been treated among my peers and have seen that advancement truly can only come from pursuing an advanced degree.

Changes in the late 1800's resulted in universities admitting women, thus allowing them to explore many more educational opportunities. These factors together provided the impetus for establishment of hospitals and schools to formally train nurses, with many schools opening for the first time in the 1870s. At the same time, though the need for nurses had been established and the importance of their role within the realm of medical care recognized, there was a great deal of opposition to the proposal that nurses should be formally educated. This attitude was epitomized by a well-known article of the time published in 1908, 'The over-trained nurse' in which the author asserted that nursing was not a “profession” but merely an “honorable calling”. Consistent with this notion, public perception viewed nursing as a job that women were generally suited to perform rather than one which required special skill and was even equated with a religious “calling”. This view, influenced by early nursing's relationship with religious orders remained far into the 20th century.(Lasseter, 1999).

This essay focuses on the impact of historical development of nursing on contemporary representations of the nursing profession. It examines the professional identity of nursing and further discusses the contribution of modern nursing, social, cultural and political factors that influences the professional identity of a nurse. The essay also looks into the professional regulations and the role of the nurse’s and midwifery Council (NMC) in the protection of the public. Finally, this essay will discuss nursing education, the media, stereotype, and their impacts on nurses as well as demonstrate my understanding as a student nurse to challenge the professional identity of nurses.

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 Glass Escalator” discusses the intertwining of race and gender combine to shape experiences for minority men in the culturally feminized field of nursing and discovers that upward advancements that may be offered to women may not be offered to a man in a dominated woman’s work field. “The perception that men are not really suited to do women’s work also contributes to the glass escalator effect.” It is interesting that there are specific ideals in the work field on what a man and a woman can handle. Doctors are

profession and should be respected as such. Congruent with nursing stereotypes comes gender roles. Naturally, women are the care-takers thus the profession is predominately female, but it should be noted that this predisposition of women taking on this role has too altered the perception of nursing. “Although the number of men in nursing is growing, campaigns and targeted recruitments should be displayed more often to draw more men into the profession” (Cohen 2007).

This essay will focus on how historical developments of nursing impact on contemporary representations of the nursing profession. It will examine professional identity of the profession and further discusses the value of modern nursing, social, cultural and political factors that influence the professional identity of the nurse. I will also discuss the professional regulation and the role of the nurse’s midwifery Council (NMC) in the protection of the public. Finally, this essay will discuss nursing education, the media, stereotype, and their impacts on nurses as well as demonstrate my understanding as a student nurse to challenge the professional identity of nurses.

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

Nursing is a profession that has been around in one form or another since the beginning of civilizations. It has moved from an art that was handed down from generation to generation to the formal education and training programs of today. During this evolution, nursing has been influenced by four main themes: the folk, religious, military and servant images (Ellis, 2012, pp. 3-45, 71).

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

Over the decades, the field of nursing has been facing difficulty with receiving acceptance as a respectable occupation. This is because there were often certain prejudices associated with the profession (which made it hard to attract good candidates). However, in the last several years, nurses have become an integral part of any health care team. To fully understand how this took place requires examining the historical trends. This will be accomplished by focusing on: self-regulatory issues and the way social perceptions impacted career decisions. Once this takes place, is when these elements will show the challenges effecting the development and practices of the discipline. (Kitson, 1996, pp. 1647 1651)

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

Nursing is universal in the sense that nurses can be found almost in all countries around the world (Henderson, 1978). They are in the hospitals, in school clinics, in the community centres, residential homes and even play major roles in some of the popular soap operas in television. There are even television shows that mainly revolve around nurses and which chronicles what they do at work - both the positive and the negative. It is one of the most visible and easily identifiable occupations as compared for example to other occupations such as engineers, managers or even pharmacists, medical technologists and other health related occupations. This is partly because of what nurses do and most especially how nurses look - with some still

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;

The healthcare system comprises of various disciplines, one of which is the discipline of nursing. I feel that compared to other disciplines like medicine, nursing has minimal recognition of being a discipline on its own. According to (IAIN W. GRAHAM), nurses are always needed by the society, however, the society lacks in acknowledging the social status of nurses. Hence, being nurses, we have to understand and uphold the importance of our nursing. I am writing this letter to you as I would like to share with you on why it is important to study the discipline of nursing. I hope after reading this letter you would be enlightened and be motivated to spread what you have gained from reading this letter to other nurses.