Demystifying Stereotypes in Male Nursing

From a wide array of healthcare professionals strutting along hospital alleys, we almost can tell the nurses from the rest. More often than not, we assume they are the female personnel administering medication and recording patients’ details. Nursing has predominantly been considered a women’s field. Its pioneers are notably women.

Nursing schools see the enrollment of very few men compared to women. The nursing workforce is also filled with women. Is nursing then, a gendered profession? Are male nurses considered an anomaly? What are some of the stereotypes associated with male nursing?

Dr. Heather Whitford and Dr. James Taylor from the University of Dundee and the University of West Scotland respectively assert that perhaps women’s predominance in the field is due to Florence Nightingale’s declaration that Nursing comes naturally to women. However, men have always been taking care of the sick and injured from as early as 250 BC when the first male-only nursing school was started in India. In the Crusades of Europe in 1096, the Spanish-American War of 1898, and even in World War 1, men served in the frontline helping the injured.

They were known as ‘orderlies’ and were paid half of what women nurses received. It was not until 1991 with the passing of the Nurses Registration Act that male nurses were legally recognized. Even so, they were still put in a separate register to females. These elements of separation had male nurses working in mental health hospitals, leaving women to work in general nursing. This created the perception that men were less qualified than their female counterparts. It was after the Second World War that the government encouraged the recruitment of men into both mental and general nursing due to a nursing shortage when the war ended.

This November as we celebrate men, we seek to not only bring awareness to the stereotypes that male nurses deal with in their line of work but also to bust these myths.

Male nurses are perceived to be less skilled because of the caregiving nature of the field. Hence nursing is considered an inherently female role. Men are therefore considered less empathetic and compassionate compared to women and their ability to provide utmost care is always under question.

Another stereotype perpetuated is that nursing is too soft for men, therefore there is the perception that male nurses never considered the career as their first choice and are using it as a stepping stone to more male-befitting careers like medicine practice (Physicians) However, some men are genuinely interested in nursing and are able to provide compassionate care. They are highly emotive with positive emotional characteristics like their female counterparts.

Most patients have reservations about being handled by a male nurse, especially obgyn nurses. This is because of the perception that male nurses are in the profession to satisfy their sexual desires. While this is a valid concern, it is not always the case as some male nurses are very professional in their work. Male nurses are therefore not able to get jobs as easily as female nurses because of the preference given to the latter. Career advancement in the field may also prove difficult.

These and many more lingering biases against men in the field have not helped the statistics as the number of male nurses continues to grow very gradually. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics data from 2023, men represent 12% of all LPNs, RN, and Nurse Practitioners. The Media hasn’t helped either with their portrayal of women as nurses in TV shows and movies and using images of female medical practitioners to represent nurses in advertising. All of these
have propagated such stereotypes.

Despite the stigma surrounding men’s work in nursing, there is but very little differentiation between male and female nurses’ work as both possess similar nursing attributes. Men taking on nursing careers also continue to create a more representative workforce.