Boy Nurses!
Connie Llanos (2007), reporting for the L.A. Daily News, says that "men are ignoring the social stigmas associated with nursing and finding that the job is not just women's work." The medical industry is actively recruiting men to combat the nationwide nursing shortage. Jerry Lucas, editor of Male Nurse Magazine, told Llanos he "felt compelled" to get men interested in nursing after working in New York City after September 11th. Progress, however, is slow. Jean P. Fisher (2007) reporting for the NC News & Observer says that 3% of RNs in North Carolina were male in 1985. Twenty years later, men still make up only 7%. "The biggest challenge is still getting men to see nursing as a masculine role," Billy Bevill (VP of recruiting at NCCN) told Fisher.
Simpson (2004) reported that men in female-dominated careers "adopt a variety of strategies to re-establish a masculinity that has been undermined by the ‘feminine‘ nature of their work." Beck et al (2006) found that boys were less comfortable than girls in entering into a non-traditionally-gendered career. Gender stereotypes do have a significant effect on the workplace conditions for male nurses. Evans (2002) suggests that the stereotype of males as sexual aggressors impacts the ability of a male nurse to do his work. Yassi et al (1995) did not find significant gender differences in workplace injury rates between male and female nurses, despite Floge and Merrill's (1986) observation that male nurses were asked to lift things more often than female nurses.
As I've mentioned before, I gravitate towards other-gendered fields. There may be some truth to my mother's insistence that I have to put myself in the minority. However, I think that the important thing to look at between yesterday's Girl Geeks! and today's post is the implication that women are empowered by entering into male fields, whereas men are weakened by entering into female fields. This inherent sexism is probably too obvious to be worth stating, but I don't see any obvious solution.
Simpson (2004) reported that men in female-dominated careers "adopt a variety of strategies to re-establish a masculinity that has been undermined by the ‘feminine‘ nature of their work." Beck et al (2006) found that boys were less comfortable than girls in entering into a non-traditionally-gendered career. Gender stereotypes do have a significant effect on the workplace conditions for male nurses. Evans (2002) suggests that the stereotype of males as sexual aggressors impacts the ability of a male nurse to do his work. Yassi et al (1995) did not find significant gender differences in workplace injury rates between male and female nurses, despite Floge and Merrill's (1986) observation that male nurses were asked to lift things more often than female nurses.
As I've mentioned before, I gravitate towards other-gendered fields. There may be some truth to my mother's insistence that I have to put myself in the minority. However, I think that the important thing to look at between yesterday's Girl Geeks! and today's post is the implication that women are empowered by entering into male fields, whereas men are weakened by entering into female fields. This inherent sexism is probably too obvious to be worth stating, but I don't see any obvious solution.