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Let’s face it ladies. The fight’s not fair in the hospital. We may be picking away at the salary gap but we still only earn 77 cents to every man’s dollar, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And despite filling more seats at nursing school, fewer than 3 percent of Fortune 1000 CEOs are women.
So how does bias run rampant in the staff room? Long story short, men and women are judged, rewarded, and even punished differently for doing the same nursing job.
Unjustified and unfair? Yes. But the harsh reality remains. The only way to climb the corporate ladder is to recognize how male nurses control the power and alter your behavior accordingly. You’ve got to play the game to get to the top.
Here we explore a few common stereotypes, misperceptions and actions that encourage or maintain gender inequity:
Men are assertive. Women are aggressive.
Men are passionate. Women are emotional.
That is a completely false. Men nurses are often thought of as nothing more than some muscle to help female nurses move and reposition patients. If anyone wants to make more money or secure a higher position on the company ladder, than hard work and dedication is the answer, NOT gender. Especially in a occupation that is dominated with women, it seems like it would be easier to move up.
Tim, I absolutely do agree that we women nurses ask for a lot of help from the male staff. However, to state that men nurses ‘are often thought of as nothing more than some muscle . . . ‘ is really unfair and a little cynical. I appreciate the personalities and professional abilities of ALL my co-workers, be they male or female.
What an interesting discussion. When I was a new nurse, I went on an interview and was told by the hiring manager she liked hiring men…I asked why…she said they approarch the job differntly (which is true)…I asked her to elaborate…she said they are more producitve. I didnt understand so she clarified with the following example. She said unstable patient gets admitted, the women complain about it and the men do the work. At the time I didnt think it was fair but after being a nurse for 15 years I know what she was saying.
I like and respect my coworkers in dependent of their being male or female. Now I work with people who i trade chores with. I do the male Foleys they do my female patients…
What I can tell you without question is that nursing is not advancing as a profession. Nurses are still struggling with the same issues they were 25 or 40 years ago…relationships with doctor, making the BSN the entry level for practice. Most nurses are not members of the ANA…..You get ten nurses togrhter and you cant get a consensus on any one topic…I have researched this for years and this is the one line answer (and I know I am going to get lots of hate as a result) but…It’s because nursing is a profession of women.
one more thought….men are more likely to be in management positions….thats why they tend to have higher profiles than the average female in nursing…
The article starts with a false premise. Men and women whose primary job is in nursing make about the same income from their primary job. You can verify this for yourself using dataferrett at http://dataferrett.census.gov/ Men whose primary job is in nursing work no fewer than 36 hours per week. (I think some do, but not enough to have statistical meaning.) However many women whose primary job is nursing.work as few as 8 hours a week. This may show that men in nursing are actually paid less per hour than are women nurses.