NYT Article: Men don't want to be nurses, and their wives agree

Nurses Men

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Does anyone else think this is article by Susan Chira is complete BS?

Men Don’t Want to Be Nurses. Their Wives Agree. - The New York Times

Specializes in ICU, trauma.

how frustrating this article is. I work in critical care, which also happens to have more male counter-parts than general medical specialties. Most days women on my unit are the MINORITY. To make it more laughable many of my male coworkers are active duty and very mascular men of all ages. It also so happens i am dating a nurse as well. Maybe it's because i know how respectable and demanding this career is personally, but i admire his education, his job title, and am not ashamed of him in anyway.

*eyeroll*

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I have some thoughts on the subject.

Because it's a women dominated field, the fact it is a science degree, and not the polisci kind, is completely overlooked. If it's true that society implicitly believes women aren't as capable in the sciences as an awful lot of data suggests, this is likely why.

It's really frustrating when nursing is thought of as good vibes and taking temperature. Having a soul is certainly good in this line of work, and should never be underestimated, but I spent more of my education being taught patho, pharm, when to question a doctor, diagnostics, predicting what a doctor will order before the doctor even knows, how to keep people alive, etc.

It is such a misunderstood profession. I've yet to come up with a way of explaining it for what it really is. I went to school with plenty of dudes, all of whom seemed very secure in their masculinity. I'm a newer generation living in a large metropolitan area, and it's becoming more accepted. Great additions to the field whom I've gotten along like gangbusters and worked efficiently with. But forgive me, I cannot get on board with the idea that men entering nursing validates the nursing profession.

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I am a fifty something white female and a nurse for 30 years. One of my role models along the way was a male PEDS nurse. I met him as a volunteer while in high school. He explained things and showed me how to do various things. He treated me like a team member. Many of the women on the unit were also strong role models. Nursing is difficult work mentally and physically. I don't see it as girly or wimpy work at all. My husband is an IT guy. I have three daughters. One is an RN too. Of my girls one is not married. I'd be happy if she married a nurse. It is honest, steady work with a decent pay! It is certainly a lot more physical than IT. How ridiculous that we put nursing in a box as a gender specific occupation. That is discrimination. I'd say it would seem to come more from outside than inside the profession.

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Specializes in Med Surg, PCU, Travel.

This article is complete nonsense. I can't believe I read the whole thing, I felt like I was reading something for the 50's...sure this is not ETV fake news??? I've always been the bread winning in the family. I went for electrical technician working in factories to EMT to being a Cable guy for almost a decade and finally to nursing. My wife fully supported my decision, our floor has several male nurses. If there are wives out there with husbands sitting on their butts unemployed because they think nursing is a "woman's job" they just as delusional as waiting for Trump to bring back manufacturing jobs. Yeah , you keep waiting...It will never happen. You can wait for the world to change or you can go change your world.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

My wife didn't like the idea of me to go into nursing either, but not because of any of the reasons given in the article. She watches Grey's Anatomy and has come to believe that if you open any storage closet in hospital you will find two staff members having sex.

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I overall disagree with this article. I did see it printed before reading it here. I think it's hard to get younger men to want to come into the profession, but I think a majority of those would be well served to at least entertain the idea of nursing as a career. Would women rather have an unemployed husband with outmoded skills or lacking them all together, over a nurse that possibly goes to an office and wears a dress shirt? You'd have to be awfully insecure to pick the former in my opinion. I make $115k a year working 36 hours a week with no nights, holidays, weekend or call. Tell me what other job offers these benefits with that pay. Don't worry, I'll wait.

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...

I make $115k a year working 36 hours a week with no nights, holidays, weekend or call. Tell me what other job offers these benefits with that pay. Don't worry, I'll wait.

Where and what do you do that makes $60+ an hour?

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California. Surgery.

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The name of "NURSE" is obviously outmoded, its from the 1910's or earlier and from a different time when healthcare was strictly separated from male/female with females being subservient to the will of the male doctors. Women must know nurse is a sexist word deep down. Many young girls are just enamored with the idea of being that tender caregiver with a bowl of soup, and putting the hot, wet towel down on the handsome soldiers furrowed brow, awaiting the time when love would finally sweep them away to a steamy romance as the young buck they have been nurturing rises up and gives them a strong and healthy child. Romance novel ********.

Therefore, by changing the word nurse they would lose the entire romantic feeling and idea that they are accomplishing the ultimate feat of femininity, making a sick infirm person well again by love and caring as well as intelligence.

I have an idea and I think it fixes everything. The word Nurse should be changed. It happened to Flight Attendant/Stewardess and Waitress so lets just move on and grow up. First, change the name of Paramedic to Rescue Driver/Rescuer. EMT is still EMT. That frees up the word Medic for Nurse. You can now be ER-Medic, OR-Medic, OBGYN-Medic etc etc. Nurse Practitioner becomes Mid-Level Practitioner(MLP). Everything else stays the same. Couldn't you just see Ford-150's everywhere with a sticker saying "Proud ER-Medic" on top of a cross? I mean I GET that a LOT of males are proud of being nurses don't get me wrong but it would definitely look more masculine and lose that stigma of Nightingale and I honestly don't think they would lose their pride with a simple name change.

The only reason I can see for not changing the word nurse is because women are becoming very selfish because of feminism and don't want to sacrifice anything but of course want all that men have as well. Look at all these job titles that have changed to benefit women: Gender marking in job titles - Wikipedia and you can't give men ONE name change?

Changing the name would fix the issue very quickly!

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It is a sad day in the nursing world that so many nurses failed to see the humor in this article: creativity in the title, silly claims countered by solid claims, and the ending paragraph is the author's last ditch effort to say "don't take me seriously here, I am having a blast writing this article."

The first part of the title of the article comes from the last 3rd of the article; the second part of the title comes from the first 3rd of the article.

....crickets....crickets....crickets....:dead:

Okay...how about this:

The author made a silly claim of a male SN being teased by female classmates, but the author also provided a counter claim: "Nursing...may require levels of education or training that can be daunting for those men who were less successful in school...."

The theme goes on:

A lot of families prefer females,” then the author provided a counter example: There hasn't been a patient who had me who ever requested going back to a female....”

Still don't get the humor?...just read the 1st and last paragraphs:

"It seems like an easy fix. Traditionally male factory work is drying up. The fastest-growing jobs in the American economy are those that are often held by women. Why not get men to do them?"

Pink-collar jobs are crap jobs for anyone,” said Joan C. Williams, professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law. We need to reinvent pink-collar jobs so men will take them and won't be unhappy...." :roflmao:

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

My 15 year old actually wants to be an RN - after watching me all these years he game to take it on and wants to be an APRN. Oh no say it ain't so. Guess it's nice that he thinks what I do is a worth while career.

Hppy

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