The History of Male Nurses
Often male people decide to pursue nursing for self-actualization or survival needs or for the failure of not attaining medical school qualifications. Nursing training was not being offered to male due to the stereotype that it was only meant for female counterparts. After a change in the perspective of what jobs to be pursued by the genders, women started joining the nursing career as well as women began joining professions that were stipulated to be male-dominated. In Australia, men were well known to care for the sick, but it was not outlined to the public, and it was not only in Australia but also worldwide it is difficult to find records of a male being nurses (Girvin, Jackson, and Hutchinson, 2016).
The Emergence of Male Nurses
The modern era of nursing emerged at the beginning of colonization since men were being trained to be soldiers as others were trained to be the nurses to take care of the soldiers in the battlefields. Therefore, this led to the inclusion of women in the training of nursing to care for people who were not soldiers in the late 19th century. This led to the profession being flooded with women and disappearance of men from the nursing career.
Influence of Christianity and Warfare
Modern nursing that includes men nurses started due to Christianity and warfare. Christianity created a center of healing as nursing was an essential function of the monastic ideal. The fact that men were trained to treat and care for soldiers also led to male persons joining the profession. The men who worked as nurses were considered 'wardsmen' and were mainly without any training, and the title nurse is primarily associated with female health caregivers. Even though there was no law against men becoming nurses, entry into nursing training was dependent on approval from the matron in the USA. Men have a long and significant association with the nursing profession, but due to the stereotypes about male roles, this has not been of help to the increase of some male nurses ( Clow, Ricciardelli and Bartfay, 2015).
The Impact of Gender Perception and Nursing
Nursing has been a profession well known for women, and this has involved the professional values even though there are little interrelation and impacts on the career. Professional values control and prove to nurse and it comes from the desire to produce well maintained professional standards with competence and efficiency.Conformity and confirmation are modes by which the nursing profession presides cohesiveness and completion of a nursing career. As a result, nursing values have been made pre-eminent over the needs of the practitioners. The core professional values are commitment and ability to work flexibly and at the command of the service and these values confirm and enhance the nursing profession standing. Gender perception within and outside are partly the results of manifestation of the larger social process. The nurses acquiesce to the social, cultural norms of the professional and are socialized by means that constantly reinforces believes and behaviors that pertain to the social environment (Gonzalez and Rodriguez, 2015).
Gender Stereotypes and Policies
Gender stereotypes within a profession have been brought about by the gender inclusion from the family levels, and this has led to sexism in the nursing industry since it comes from the nursing industry. It is this ubiquities and acceptance of this that has led to the growth of gender stereotypical beliefs, values, and structures in the nursing professions. Even though nursing is organized within a highly structured and confined hierarchy, power, prestige, status, and careers are developed through these relationships; there is still gender stereotype. The main responsibility of the nursing profession is to provide human health and caring that includes valuing all people in a holistic way and to better people’s health throughout their lifetime across all levels of society. Therefore, to achieve this, policies that define and integrate appropriate standards for delivery of care and address conditions necessary for that care to occur. Many nursing organizations across the world have incorporated their public policies to fit into the world’s public nursing policies, for example, the STTI and the Global Advisory Panel on the Future of Nursing (GAPFON) (Girvin, Jackson and Hutchinson, 2016).
Personal Opinion
Nursing has an overall connotation against males being in the field, and this has brought a large part of sexism in the profession. Before the 19th century and the works of Florence Nightingale, nursing was only for men who tended for the soldiers, whereas women were natural caregivers and rearing of children only. After the 19th century, women started being involved in the training of nursing, and this later on took a drastic change for the men in the field and many men started considering nursing to be for women. The sexism and the gender seclusion of men being in the nursing career have been brought about by the view of women to be natural home caregivers hence fitting in the nursing profession, and men are only viewed to be doctors or making other male-dominated careers. ( Clow, Ricciardelli, and Bartfay, 2015). On the contrary, men can be nurses because it is a high demand job and easily accessible due to the short experience in the field, and therefore the pay is great. Men should also consider being nurses because some men and boys may feel comfortable being attended to with males, especially when it is a sensitive and more personal disease. If the gender stereotypes of nursing were properly dealt with, male nurses would act as outstanding examples to the young boys by dealing with incredible sicknesses that the women counterparts may not handle. With the mentorship from the male nurses, this can reduce gender stereotype and the sexism that comes with the male being nurses.
Media Influence and Conclusion
In my opinion, many men have avoided pursuing nursing because it means breastfeeding which in the contrarily, nursing is just caring to give and providing health benefits to the patients. The use of media in all sorts has also led to the sexism in the nursing profession and deterring men and women alike from being part of the profession. Nursing faculty should prepare the male nursing students to interact effectively with female clients as well. Role modeling the therapeutic relationship with clients is one way that can help give moral support male student to pursue nursing and also help in providing equal learning opportunities to pursue students ( Clow, Ricciardelli, and Bartfay, 2015).
People all over the world still perceive nursing as primarily a well-dominated industry that requires a nurturing, caring personality. The perception that all men who are nurses are gay, therefore, male nurses should be cautious when giving the care to ensure that they don’t project any of their sexuality in their caregiving, and this can hinder their work delivery or worsen the public perception. The media should be used as a mode of encouraging male nursing training and removing the general public perception of men being nurses.
Reference
Clow, K. A., Ricciardelli, R., " Bartfay, W. J. (2015). Are you man enough to be a nurse? The impact of ambivalent sexism and role congruity on perceptions of men and women in nursing advertisements. Sex Roles, 72(7-8), 363-376.
Girvin, J., Jackson, D., " Hutchinson, M. (2016). Contemporary public perceptions of nursing: a systematic review and narrative synthesis of the international research evidence. Journal of nursing management, 24(8), 994-1006.
Gonzalez, R. H., " Rodríguez-Carvajal, R. (2015). NURSING PROFESSIONALS: EXISTENCE OR NON-GENDER BIAS AND ITS IMPACT ON THE HEALTH OF WOMEN. Revista de enfermeria (Barcelona, Spain), 38(1), 48-52.
