UNCC100: Self And Community: Exploring The Anatomy Of Modern Society

Since time immemorial, gender and racial discrimination has been one of the major obstacles in the medical communities. Most importantly, such bias and prejudice has penetrated the world of nursing education as well. In the medical communities, women have always had to crawl their way to the top, in order to gain some degree of legitimacy in the profession. The sector of nursing education has predominantly been reserved for women; as such, the profession has been ripe with sexual discrimination (Kellet, Gregory & Evans, 2014).

As a matter of fact, it can be said that sexual discrimination as a part of the nursing profession has been around since the time of Florence Nightingale. Back in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, women were considered to be appropriate for the nursing role because of their inherent motherly and caring nature. On the contrary, men were considered to be rough and hardy, and too clumsy to care for sick individuals. A gross misconception, one must argue. It is unfair to segregate any particular sex into a definite sphere, based on his or her gender (Polit & Beck, 2013). One must remember, that gender roles exist, because people fail to perceive the difference between sex and gender. While sex is anatomical and biological, gender is the social construct that is associated with the biological sex. In other words, men and women, irrespective of the profession they are in, are expected to act in a certain way that suits their genders.

Sexual discrimination within the field of nursing education can be segregated into two categories – benevolent and hostile sexism. Hostile sexism is most common, and entails negative attitudes, passing of remarks, blatant negative comments and may even include physical harm. In nursing, it is usually the men who are subjected to such hostile sexism, since nursing is commonly viewed as a “woman’s job.” It is in nursing, more than any other educational program that men are forced to succumb to physical and verbal sexual discrimination (Chiarella & Adrian, 2014). Yet, the question arises as to why such a stereotype prevails. It can be said that such stereotypes and discrimination is mainly owing to the restricting and primitive gender roles that have been imposed upon men and women since the beginning of mankind. Unfortunately, women have always been considered to be the weaker sex – the meek, the delicate, the gentle and the submissive, On the other hand, however, men have always been regarded as the strong and powerful – the superior sex. As such, the nursing profession has been regarded as a woman’s job – which is also probably why women had been largely excluded from the healthcare sector till only recently (Williams, 2018). As a result, a man who dares to enroll in nursing school is often met with sneers and hostility.

In Australia and the rest of the world, only 10 per cent of the surgeons are women. On the contrary, the ratio of male to female nurses is 9:10. It is also interesting to note the difference in terminology. Men and women choose to embark on this profession with the same ideology in mind – to care for ailing people. However, while female nurses are referred to as nurses, men on the contrary are referred to as male nurses. The terminology itself is quite demeaning for both sexes (Clow, Ricciardeli & Bartfay, 2015). It must be remembered that gender stereotyping and sexual discrimination in the nursing profession is a vicious cycle. Owing to fewer male nurses than female nurses, the faculties in nursing schools and colleges are mostly female. As a consequence, sexual discrimination becomes ingrained in the very initial stages of nursing education. Studies conducted in nursing schools have shown that at least 89 per cent of male nurses are victim to verbal and non verbal sexual discrimination in the classrooms. In fact, if gender bias and discrimination in the nursing schools go unnoticed, or more importantly unaddressed, it could affect the ability of clinics and hospitals to create and also retain a sustainable and robust work force (Newman, 2014).

To conclude, it can be said that gender discrimination in any sector can be potentially damaging. However, when it comes to nursing, it must be admitted that sexual discrimination at the grassroot levels and in healthcare organizations can affect the quality of care provided to patients in need.

References:

Chiarella, M., & Adrian, A. (2014). Boundary violations, gender and the nature of nursing work. Nursing ethics, 21(3), 267-277.

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.

Kellett, P., M. Gregory, D., & Evans, J. (2014). Patriarchal paradox: gender performance and men’s nursing careers. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 29(2), 77-90.

Newman, C. (2014). Time to address gender discrimination and inequality in the health workforce. Human resources for health, 12(1), 25.

Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2013). Is there still gender bias in nursing research? An update. Research in nursing & health, 36(1), 75-83.

Williams, J. C. (2018). Deconstructing Gender [1989]. In Feminist Legal Theory (pp. 95-123). Routledge.