Aditya Rajan

Lee Patterson

ENGL-1A

December 4, 2022

Multigenre Persuasive Campaign

Issue: Addressing and fixing the underrepresentation of males within the nursing profession so

that the gender split is more even within the field.

Argument: The nursing field has been predominantly a female profession for a very long time

due to outdated societal values. For more males to take an interest in and understand the

professional value of the nursing field, this issue must be brought to the attention of nursing

educators as well as school students who have been taught old societal values such as gender

norms and stereotypes.

Chosen Audiences:

❖ High School upperclassmen and college students, especially males who haven’t been

given an opportunity to consider nursing a potential career due to stereotypes.

❖ Nursing educators within any educational institution related to the field of nursing.

Genres

❖ An informative/persuasive article targeted towards students who may be interested in

nursing that briefly explains the history of male nurses to help them understand why there

is a massive lack of male nurses.

❖ A formal letter/email template that can be sent to nursing educators within nursing

institutions such as the California State University system or any other institutions that

would be interested. The nursing field is in a constant shortage of nurses, and convincing
 the higher-ups that the issue can be fixed by encouraging more males to take an interest

in the nursing profession is a really healthy approach to take.

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Genre #1 (Informative/Persuasive Article):

Why male nurses are so hard to find– and why you can change that today!
by Aditya Rajan
December 6, 2022

Before you start reading this article, ask yourself this question. Out of the many
times you have visited the hospital for a checkup, how many times have you had a male
nurse take your vitals before the doctor comes in? Chances are, that number is close to
zero. And if you have run into one, you might have thought it was strange. This is
because being taken care of by a man was an uncomfortable feeling for many people in
the past, especially when it was a woman’s role to be the caregiver back then. In the
medical field, nurses tend to be responsible for caring for the patients while the doctors
do surgeries. But times seem to be changing as well, so why are there still so few male
nurses today? Here is a brief overview of the history of male nurses and why students
like you should no longer be afraid of being a male in the nursing field.

As of 2022, 86.0% of all nurses are women, while 14.0% are men. But there was a
time when the nursing profession had many more men. In fact, it used to be a male-
dominated profession, contrary to popular belief. According to Megan Ford, an author
from the Nursing Times, “the first nursing school in the world included men only and
started as far back as 250 BC in India.” She also said, “Male nurses cared for troops
during the Crusades and up to 1870 in the Franco-Prussian war.” Now, if you’ve taken a
World History course, you would know that there is a large timespan between the
Crusades and the Franco-Prussian War. This means that males played a major role in
nursing for most of modern history. That’s right. We did it before, so why can’t we do it
again? Some obstacles hindered any further progress. It was actually Florence
Nightingale who said that men were not suited for nursing, which greatly shifted the
gender opinion in nursing to favor women. In fact, there was even gender-based
segregation within the nursing field until 1947, according to Megan Ford.

Image: Florence Nightingale Image: One of the first male nurses

(From Wikipedia) after desegregation in 1947.
(From Topfoto)

Even though nursing segregation ended in 1947, there was little to no immediate
improvement for male nurses in the field, and as someone considering the field, you
might be wondering why. There were two main reasons for this. Workforce discrimination
and gender stereotypes. According to Megan Ford, male nurses were called “orderlies”
and paid half of what female nurses were paid during World War 1, even though they
underwent the same training and had the same diploma. However, times have changed,
and pay is almost equal between both genders in the nursing field nowadays. In fact, the
biggest thing hindering men from becoming nurses is the gender norm that has
surrounded the field. This is a quote from Steven Ross Johnson, an instructor from the
Arizona College of Nursing. “Many of the challenges to recruiting more men into the
nursing field involve breaking long-held perceptions around gender that have hindered
many from viewing nursing as their first career choice.” In other words, men were too
afraid to enter a female-dominated profession due to society’s views.
 But those views have started to change. According to Johnson's research, the
percentage of male nurses has increased from 8.9% to 13.3% between 2011 and 2021. He
says, “Encouraging more men to enter the nursing profession can help address the
current nursing shortage crisis by not only increasing the quantity of nurses, but also the
quality of patient care.” He also said that “more men in nursing provides a more diverse
group of health care providers and advocates for patients across all genders and ethnic
and racial backgrounds.” To sum up what he said, adding male nurses to the workforce
has helped combat the ongoing nursing shortage while adding some well-needed
diversity to the field. Not only is it becoming normal for men to be seen as caregivers, but
adding more men to the nursing field has many benefits for both nurses and patients
alike. In other words, if students are still unsure of what they want to pursue, now is the
best time for males to consider nursing as a potential career.

The issue of male nurses being so low in number is not a new topic for those in
the nursing field. However, most people simply didn’t know why or how they could
change that fact. But our society is changing, and students like you are leading that
change. Men are just as capable as women when it comes to caring for other people,
and the era of gender-based working fields is a thing of the past. You should not be
afraid of the gender stereotypes surrounding the field and other forms of discrimination.
Because at the end of the day, all you need to be a nurse is a good heart and a degree.

Reference(s):
Ford, M (2019). ‘Focus: A brief history of men in nursing’. Nursing Times. Viewed
December 6, 2022, https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/research-and-innovation/focus-a-
brief-history-of-men-in-nursing-06-03-2019/#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20according%20to
%20Mr,Franco%20Prussian%20War%2C%20he%20noted.

Johnson, S. R. (2022). ‘Could adding more men ease the nation's nursing woes?’.
Arizona College of Nursing. Viewed December 6, 2022,
https://www.arizonacollege.edu/blog/could-adding-more-men-ease-the-nations-nursing-
woes/

Nurse demographics and statistics in the US. (2022, September 9). Zippia. Viewed
December 6, 2022,
https://www.zippia.com/nurse-jobs/demographics/
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Genre #2 (Formal Letter/Email Template):

Aditya Rajan
Health Building 420
One Washington Square
San Jose, CA 95192-0057
December 6. 2022
Hello Instructor {last name},

I am a second-year male nursing student at San Jose State University. I am writing you this letter
to ask for your valued assistance in taking the initiative toward solving one of our biggest
problems within the nursing field.

As you must already know, the nursing field is in a constant shortage of nurses that does not
appear to be ending any time soon. However, we at The Valley Foundation School of Nursing at
San Jose State University believe that encouraging more men to consider a career in nursing can
help alleviate some of this shortage. If we can match the number of women in nursing with men,
then we will essentially double the current nursing force.

We plan to send out experienced teams of nursing students and teachers to high schools around
the state of California to encourage more students, especially males, to become nurses by helping
them overcome their fear of nursing stereotypes. We also plan to show them the benefits of being
a nurse. To achieve this goal, we are looking for individuals like you with the knowledge and
passion needed for this task.
Here are a few reasons why participating in this task is worth your time:
- The entire program is funded by San Jose State University and other participating CSUs.
- We have already seen positive results in major cities such as San Jose, San Francisco, and
Los Angeles.
- Given the opportunity to interact with many experienced nursing instructors around
California.
- We see ourselves leading this project far into the future with constant improvements
being made.
- Once achieved, you will be given pay incentives by the university you work for.
- Most importantly, you will have played a key role in solving the nursing shortage and
saving many lives in the process.

If you would like to join us on this journey or have any other questions, please email
nursing@sjsu.edu with your response.

Sincerely,
Aditya Rajan
aditya.rajan@sjsu.edu
San Jose State University