Written By: Hyaal Wehab
In my post last week, I talked about the issue based on the pay difference for male and female nurses. Thought field of nursing is mainly dominated by females, men seem to be payed more than women, but it turns out that men face more challenges and discrimination than women do. My post this week will be about an article, written by Julie K. Poliafico, regarding the large gap in the gender ratio in this profession, and the hardships that male nurses face in this industry.
Florence Nightingale was the first woman to identify the modern form of nursing to this day. Although Nightingale played a large part in the evolution of nursing, many of nurses before and after Nightingale’s time, were men. Most of the male nurses at this time put their own lives at risk to perform the profession that they love. During the time of the Civil war, multiple men not only worked as nurses in the army/ navy corps to tend to those wounded or affected by the bubonic plague, but they also worked as soldiers to serve and protect this country. Their service was honored and appreciated by many, but by the end of the war, there was a large decline in the population of male nurses, and Florence Nightingale was part of the influence behind this. Ever since this time, it seemed as if it was much harder to keep men in the field of nursing, and to even influence them to join. Nightingale had great intentions and did believe that equality between the voice of men and women was very important, but she never mentioned the presence of men in the field of nursing, which was offensive to most men in the field, hence the fact that a large majority of the field, in her time, was made up of men. The decline of men in the field of nursing was not only influenced my Nightingale’s lack of inclusion, but also due to the discrimination that they faced by many. Since nursing was seen as a profession of care and compassion, men were looked at by many as “unmanly” or they were automatically classified as a homosexual due to their profession in such a female-dominated work force. Due to this, by the 1900’s, men were not able to be a part of the army/navy nursing corps nor were they accepted by all nursing schools; only a few continued to admit men. Of course, as time went on, this changed. Between 1992 and 1996, more men began pursuing professions in the field of nursing, despite the “unmanly” image and discrimination towards their gender. Now in present time, nursing admittance is not an issue for men anymore, but many men still fear being seen as “unmanly”. Although the number of men increased, it did not make it any easier to persuade the men to stay in nursing. Most men that attend nursing school to receive a BSN (Bachelors of Science in Nursing) end up dropping out, or failing out of nursing school before they even complete the required course to receive their degree. Many men tend to ditch nursing school due to the discrimination and challenges they face, but there are still very few that push through and fight through the challenges.
In the United States, about 5% of nurses are men. This is not a large fraction compared to the amount of women in this profession, but it still recognizes the amount of men in this field, despite the discrimination. Many men that have stuck through this to receive their degree have said that they feel isolated due to the lack of male peers and figures around them. Although male nurses have said that they get along really well with most of their female colleagues, they still feel that they are excluded based on their gender. For example, many male nurses are not assigned to work with female patients due to the idea of making women “uncomfortable”, but female nurses are almost always assigned to male and female patients, which makes male nurses feel that they are not included. Two courts actually passed rules which allowed hospitals to not hire labor/ delivery room nurses, or prohibit male nurses from being in the delivery room due to the patient feeling more “anxious”. After doing certain studies, female patients have said that they do not find any difference in being examined by a male or female nurse; most women actually prefer being examined by male nurses. Male nurses also feel that they are overlooked when it comes to leadership opportunities simply because they are men. Due to the rates of discrimination that these men face, the American Assembly for Men in Nursing (AAMN), founded in 1971, was created to recruit more men into nursing, and provide support for men already in the field of nursing.
Male nurses should be appreciated more due to their large contribution to the field of nursing. Male and Female nurses should work together to create an even larger, positive impact in this profession. After reading this article, I really appreciate the men in this field but also realize that there should not be discrimination in this profession, or any profession, because when people can come together, disregarding the gender, they create a larger impact. The only question that I really have is, how can the discrimination of male nurses based on their gender, come to a stop? There will always be others that will firmly believe in this discrimination, but for those that want to put a stop to this, how else is it possible? I strongly believe that male nurses should be treated just as equal as female nurses, and vice versa.
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