Forced wearing of nursing cap.

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  1. Is this sexist or gender bias?

    • 95
      yes
    • 101
      no

196 members have participated

Specializes in ICU.

When I was in high-school, girls could not wear slacks to school. Females wore only skirts or dresses, no pants or jeans, period. The male students wore pants and jeans, of course. I found that to be extremely sexist, and I think forcing females to wear a cap is also. Women have fought long and hard for more equal rights. Having worn the darn cap for years, I wouldn't want to wear it, either. And no, it doesn't look right to wear it with "scrubs." We only wore ours with total whites~white dresses, stockings, and shoes. I hope your instructors have told you that it is improper to ever wear the cap in an automobile, or anywhere other than inside the hospital or clinic. It is to be put on after you enter the building, and removed before you exit it.

BrandonLPN, LPN

3,358 Posts

I think it's clearly discrimination. The real question is: Is it worth fighting over? That's up to the individual, I guess.

I will say that the argument that caps are a "tradition" is a silly argument. The world has changed. So has nursing. Caps were a part of nursing, once upon a time. They aren't anymore. Period. Tradition for tradition's sake is dumb. It serves no purpose.

echoRNC711, BSN

227 Posts

Specializes in cardiac CVRU/ICU/cardiac rehab/case management.

Before we get too carried away with tradition ...a reminder that the caps were worn originally to keep the nurses lice from dropping on the patients!!

somenurse

470 Posts

This a byproduct of nursing becoming a "recession-proof, everybody come on in, afterthought career" there is little to no respect for tradition or the history of the profession. I indeed still have my cap and it is on a stand with my pinning pic not a drawer or closet. If it matters I am NOT even 40 years old but I worked hard to make it to my pinning and I take offense to it being called archaic, sexist, cartoonish, and silly. If those are the words that this ceremony and attire bring to your mind perhaps you are the one that doesn't belong, not the traditions of the nursing journey.

Edit: I am indeed no handmaiden or nun but if the thought of being labeled as someone who serves others is so revolting I hope I am NEVER in your care.

Your post seems to imply, you feel those who feel it's wrong for a person without a member, being denied her right to participate in her own ceremony unless she wears a pointy hat,

is some type of riff-raff, "everybody come on in" kind of student? Or maybe i misunderstand what you meant

in your first sentence there. As i read it, i think you mean, that people who don't want to be forced to wear a hat because they have no member,

as being some type that should have been screened out/ not included in the "everybody come in" nursing admissions standards,(?)

which, btw, do exclude many applicants.

Many many ppl have written, they seem to feel umbrage that not wearing hats,

equates to not respecting nursing's history.:confused: This is nonsensical. I am a bit of a history buff, but, i feel no obligation to wear the costumes of whatever era or country i am studying, to prove i respect them. :roflmao:

Honoring history, knowing history,

and

dressing up like the people you are reading about,

are two different things.

One can wear a nursing cap, and not know squat about the heros of our professions path.

One can NOT wear a cap,

and be very very knowledgeable and even in awe of the courage and strength of those who went before...even if she does not want to dress up like that person.

I also don't think, not personally wanting to wear a cap that only one gender has to wear, does not,

in any way,

show any lack of respect for the history of the profession.

Respecting someone,

and dressing up like them,

can be two different things.

Our profession, btw, was originally doled out as PUNISHMENT for female convicts(often hookers). For their sentence, they were forced to care for sick people.

Caring for sick people, was NOT NOT NOT seen as anything desirable nor honorable. It was even considered kinda scandalous to provide personal care for sick, half-dressed strangers all piled up in beds a room together.

still, i doubt we want our graduates showing up dressed like hookers, to honor the history of our profession.

Re: your last remark of your post---------Not wanting to wear hats which symbolize different things to different people, in no way indicates the person can not care,

or care for you well. This person might provide the most excellent care, but, just doesn't want to look like a frenchmaid from the past after studying so so hard for years to get that degree.

There are many

many other

professions,

which graduate without dressing up like past heros of their field,

and no one suspects

those professionals "don't respect the history" of their field just cuz they don't dress up like them!!!

I think it ought to be left up to each nurse if he/she wants to wear a cap, or not.

I really suspect, that someone earlier who posted, may have been onto something when they wondered

if the questionnaire may have led the students answering, when they wrote that THEY personally want to wear caps,

but did not intend that their vote would mean everyone else will to be forced to wear caps to join in their own graduation. It is possible, that the students didn't understand their vote for what they would want to wear, would equate to having their classmates forced to abide by their own idea of appropriate clothing for a 2012 professional woman.

Kimynurse

376 Posts

I guess when I graduated from LPN school in 2009, we didn't think about it.

The woman wore caps and dresses, men wore white, with a tie.

We also had the candle lamp, and said the Florence nightingale pledge.

We never felt discriminated against, but your feelings are your own.

I start RN school in January, and I know no caps, and we wear white.

I'm glad I got to experience the whole, cap,lamp, dress, and pledge ceremony.

Szasz_is_Right

36 Posts

It isn't just the cap that's traditional, it's the "whites", including the dress, stockings and shoes.

IMO, this is when nurses actually looked professional.

Stephalump

2,723 Posts

Specializes in Forensic Psych.

I'm already planning on wearing the white dress and a cap for pinning and very excited. It does seem a bit odd to require it. I don't see why it's imperative that everyone look identical down to the last accessory. However, that isn't a battle I'd waste my energy over. It's a hat. I hate wearing white shoes during clincals but in surviving.

Szasz_is_Right

36 Posts

It shows where nursing has been and how far the profession has progressed.

Or devolved.

BrandonLPN, LPN

3,358 Posts

IMO, this is when nurses actually looked professional.
I can guarantee you I wouldn't look very professional in a dress, stockings and a cap....

somenurse

470 Posts

IMO, this is when nurses actually looked professional.

When i wore a cap, it was a huge nuisance, hard to keep spotless, and even harder to keep centered on my head with my stethy going on and off, always banged it. Each school has their "own" style of cap, and our schools' cap looked just like a dunce cap. We all hated the shape.

It's hard to find underwear that doesn't glow under white uniforms. Might not bother some ppl, but, it used to bother me that my underwear was so so visible under most pure-white fabrics. Even skin-color underwear, still visible. Most old time uniforms were made of nylon mixes, and tended to be freakishly sheer, and back then, our tops did not often go past our hips, either.

I had to get very heavy fabrics to feel whatever shape underwear i had on wasn't showing for everyone to see, and the heavy fabrics got hot, aren't as comfortable for flexing around.

also, each and every tiny ink dot or blood fleck, that you might not have even realized are on you now, are all so so noticeable in all white.

I'd rather act and be truly professional, than be unable to accept that today's nurses do look different. Yet, to me,

they are every bit as professional and well educated,

as someone running around with a pointy hat on. Today's nurses are often doing incredibly complex work, and deserve respect,

even if they don't dress exactly like we did eons ago.

The clothing wore by most professions,

if you look at the 50s to 80s,

doesn't look like what that same profession is wearing today. :rolleyes: Clothing does change over time. We really don't have to wear pointy hats

to be respected for doing an intellectually challenging job.

....we really don't.

Most of us nurses have been lauded and appreciated AND RESPECTED DEEPLY now and then, by this patient or that family or this colleague,

even if s/he was NOT dressed like the kids being "nurses" who trick or treat at my door.

being a professional nurse,

involves so so much more

than what color you wear.

who knows,

next generations of the future,

the future older nurses will be scoffing at the latest trend in nursing clothes,

"Well, in my day, nurses all used to wear SCRUBS! I am not having this blahblah type of uniform! Doesn't show respect for the previous century of nurse costumes, like i wore!":roflmao:

joanna73, BSN, RN

4,767 Posts

Specializes in geriatrics.

I am very much a professional, and I'm neatly attired at work. I am also very much a tomboy, and I always have been. Had I been forced to wear a dress and a cap every shift, I would seriously be re-thinking my nursing career. (I already am, but for different reasons). I am not a dress girl, and I never will be. I'm just not comfortable in dresses. To imply that we aren't professional in a dress is discriminatory, since as others mentioned, men don't wear dresses. So why should I have to? Pfft!

joanna73, BSN, RN

4,767 Posts

Specializes in geriatrics.
You could look at it two ways, you can think that it is gender discriminatory or you can look at it in the way that this is a universal symbol of the nursing profession. In this way you can be proud of wearing it without thinking that is shows bias to your gender. I do hope that you would realize it is not only about the gender but the symbol the cap symbolizes for the whole nursing community.
I always say, "Fair is fair." If men don't have to wear a cap, then the women in nursing shouldn't have to either. Until the last 10-15 years, there were less men in nursing. While it is still largely a female dominated profession, the standards have changed, and times have changed. During the days of the cap, nurses were also more subservient to physicians. I have no intention of ever playing into that role either. The way I was trained, physicians are my equal. I suppose this issue will depend on one's perspective.
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