Gender inequity related to nursing in a sociological context.

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Consider how tensions of gender are significant to nursing and nursing practice.


Why is it that today, in the 1st century, nurses are fighting what seems to be an uphill battle for more money, and more power? Surely the world’s governments can afford to help out these ‘ministering angels’ who have worked so hard for so long! The reason why this isn’t happening is simple. The vast majority of nurses are female. As Davis said in ‘Gender and the politics of nursing’ (188), “Sex is as fundamental to our analysis of social order as class or race”. This essay will explore and discuss the functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionalist perspectives of gender inequity, and how it is related to nursing and nursing practice.


According to the functionalist perspective, men and women are assigned roles that they have to play out, if society is to function smoothly and successfully (Thio.17). Men are associated with roles that are dominant and assertive, and may include jobs revolving around politics or economics (Maddock.1). Women are assigned roles that are emotive, less intellectual and less powerful, such as looking after the children or being a secretary (Maddock.1). These gender assigned roles have become fixed in society’s subconscious by a process called ‘engenderment’. This is the way that people believe in, and usually never question what type of job they will end up with. As children, we are bought up to play with dolls or toy guns, depending on our gender, so the process begins very early (Vaughan.001). Nursing is generally considered the role of a female, as most nurses are female (Thio.17). As such, it is looked upon as being not very hard to do, and is considered a ‘weak’ profession (Maddock.1). Nurses today are striving to become a political and economic force by demanding more money and autonomy from the government. This is made that much harder to achieve, all due to the devaluing functionalist view of a female, and therefore view of a nurse. Since men are the major power brokers in today’s sexist world, nurses have a hard fight ahead of them (Chafez.10).


Another example of how the functionalist perspective on gender inequity has affected nursing, is the doctor/nurse relationship. Doctors are predominantly male, as nurses are mainly female and thus gender related role assignment is evident (Chafez.10). Nurses are expected traditionally to be obedient and subservient to the doctor in order for the relationship to work properly (M.Stainburn. personal communication. 0/7/0). The doctor/nurse relationship is parallel to the male/female relationship.


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Male nurses however, tend to shake up this functionalist perspective, society is still alive and functioning even though these men have chosen a traditionally female role (Heikes.11).


The second perspective on gender inequity is the conflict perspective. This view aligns itself with the traditional Marxist view of economic stratification through exploitation (Thio.17). Gender inequity occurs because men exploit women financially and sexually (Thio.17). By encouraging women to be homemakers, men can go out and grab all the money and power for themselves, leaving the woman with nothing to her name (Vaughan.001). In reality, women do work, but are placed in jobs with little status or opportunity for advancement, a prime example being nursing (Diamant & Lee.00). It has been found that when women are put in jobs with little power, that society deems these jobs as being very respectful and important, as to make up for the long hard hours taken to nurse people, or even look after children (Diamant & Lee.00). This relatively useless respect is what nurses are supposed to hold dear, but you cannot pay the bills with it, or eat it. As the top jobs are held by men, it seems that yet again nurses are blocked immediately from making any hard and fast changes (Chafez.10). Alongside the financial exploitation of women and nurses is the sexual exploitation of them. Some men consider women as having no other purpose on this earth but to pleasure them, and pop out babies (Chafez.10). The media plays a huge role in this type of exploitation concerning nurses, by degrading them and their crisp white uniforms into sex objects (M.Stainburn. personal communication. 8/6/0).


The symbolic interactionalist perspective on gender inequity is really the crux of the whole matter. It describes the way in which gender inequality occurs, and how it keeps on happening. Men and women are constantly interacting in a manner that degrades women and elevates men (Thio.17). A good example of this is that it is well noted that a female nurse finds it hard to ‘speak up’ and have her opinions listened to by a doctor. This is due to the little credibility nursing has in the medical world, of course due to gender (Maddock.1). Men tend to tower over women, and talk loudly, while women nod their heads a lot and smile gently when in conversation together, this is an ingrained cycle which will be hard to break (Chafez.10).


Interestingly, a whole kettle of fish is opened concerning male nurses when looking through the symbolic interactionalist view. Female nurses actually tend to dominate and isolate male nurses (Diamant & Lee.00), and male nurses are labelled ‘troublemakers’, ‘ladder-climbers’, or ‘homosexuals’. The male nurses recognise this negativity and feel more pressure to perform, and as a result, they sometimes get put in positions of power (Heikes.11). Perhaps this twist in male/female interaction occurs because the female nurse is taking out decades of discrimination upon a man who is finally on the same level as she.


Domination by men and submission by women is generally the theme of today’s society, and supports the symbolic interactionalist perspective. It is a cycle that needs to be broken in order to fix gender inequity.


In conclusion it is obvious that if nursing and nursing practice is going to become elevated in terms of power, money and autonomy, major changes are needed at the basic societal level. As nurses struggle to gain recognition, the boundaries between the nursing world and medical world are beginning to crumble (Maddock.1). This hopefully parallels the current male/female situation. The author believes that there are four key things nurses can do to help break down gender inequality and discrimination


1. Have a strong belief system in what nursing is and shall be.


. Have roles to aspire to (e.g. Nurse prescribers)


. Get a strong support team including politicians


4. Most importantly, have strong, inspirational, female leaders.


Nurses should pave the way for females around the world to become free from gender inequality, and we can only do that by being strong and persistent.


By kate turner. Absolutely brilliant


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