Caden Gibbs

Dr. Stuart

ENGL 102

20 March 2024

The Evolution of Men in Nursing

Nursing is seen as one of the most female-dominant fields in healthcare and there are

many questions about why. A lot of people view being a nurse as a very feminine profession

even though people view most doctors as men. Both professions involve patient care so why

the gender segregation? In today’s world, it is much more common to see a male nurse than it

was even 10 years ago and way more common than 20 years ago. When men are given the

option to enter health care, most people assume they are just going to be a doctor because that

is usually seen as a masculine role and often overlook specialties like nursing. Not only do we

see gender segregation in many healthcare fields, but various workforces across the board.

This is strictly because of things like wages, positions, titles, femininity/masculinity, and skill

sets.

In recent years there has been an increase in male nurses as society has seen that men

do not always have to be doctors to be successful in healthcare. There has been a lot of role

reversal in the last few decades as you see more female doctors and more male nurses. For a

long time, society painted pictures of who should hold each position, and as time has continued

people have learned that anyone is capable of holding either position successfully with time and

dedication.

A large factor in nursing being a female-dominant field is how it affects the masculinities

in men. Females are generally targeted in this profession because they are seen to carry and

express different emotions than men. For a very long time, men were taught to harbor and hide

their emotions to appear strong/masculine. In today’s society, men are encouraged to express

their feelings and emotions because it is not a sign of weakness. Nursing is a field full of
emotion and because of that men have avoided it as they feel it would hurt their masculinity, but

that has slowly begun to change.

Occupational gender segregation presents itself in many professions, we just happen to

predominantly see it in nursing as the world revolves around healthcare. Since the beginning of

nursing, it has typically always been a female-dominated field as it was a profession that fit

historical sex roles. Partially because for a long time women were seen to have the natural

ability to be caring and nurturing and did not typically carry higher education so this is how they

could make an impact. Men held professional positions such as doctors and women were seen

as capable of doing the dirty work a doctor didn’t have time for.

Until recently seeing a female doctor was not very common and most women in health

care stopped at nursing because they were not supported in furthering their education. The

gender segregation in healthcare between women being nurses and men being doctors is solely

based on society’s pictures of “caring” vs. “curing”. Women are seen to have natural empathetic

and “caring” abilities, while men having knowledge and technical skills are seen as better suited

for “curing”. Nursing is rated high on the nurturance scale and is largely associated with

femininity. This is largely turning men away from the profession because of factoring in

emotions.

Men make up about 7% of the nursing population which isn’t a large number by any

means, but it’s an increase from the mere 2-3% of the population they used to occupy. Still with

this small increase the demand for nurses is still rather large and continues to grow.

Organizations have put in efforts to increase the diversity of workforces, especially within the

field of nursing as it mainly attracts white middle-aged women who have traditionally entered the

profession in the past.

Research imposed on men in nursing has investigated why they entered a traditionally

feminine profession as well as their financial and promotional outcomes. The studies have

shown that men are only acutely aware of the problems posed by constructing a masculine self.
Many men are seen emphasizing technical competence and rationality to negotiate masculinity

in caring professions. Despite the benefits men may gain in a caring profession they are still

stuck with the contradictions between masculinity and their work in caring professions. Yet,

many organizations have yet to process the cultural contradictions between the demands of

nursing and the ideals of masculinity.

A large aspect of recruiting men is the inclusion of mobilizing masculinity. Mobilizing

masculinity refers to men’s use of practices in the workplace that implicate, or “bring to bear”,

masculinities in a given situation. Nursing recruitment materials may expand upon or preserve

definitions of masculinity centered on the ideals of emotional detachment, rationality, and

autonomy. The ideals of hegemonic masculinity are heavily scripted within the current

sociohistorical context and nursing materials are embedded within that context even as they

confront the contradictions of men in nursing.