Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

Originally Posted by Elvish

\That said, I am all in favor of fathers being able to take as much leave as mothers after the birth of a baby.

In Sweden, this is a norm.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

Originally Posted by markuskristian

In Sweden, this is a norm.

As it is in Finland, and I'm guessing, much of Europe. As it darn well SHOULD be. Fathers deserve leave as much as mothers do.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

I didn't mead to imply that my female co-workers SHOULD go on maternity leave before they give birth. I work with plenty of women who work right up to delivery and do great. I was just saying that if you come to work and claim that you are physically incapable of doing your job and require special treatment, regardless of your physical incapacitation, you should be staying home until you've recovered. If you can't do your job effectively, you are putting unnecessary stress on your co-workers, yourself, and could be putting your patients at risk. Additionally, I agree that maternity leave in the US is a joke, but I feel that as a man, I get an even shorter end of the stick.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

Hah!

When I was on furlough from my pilot job, and my wife (now ex-wife) was a hotshot @ Motorola, I played Mr. Mom to two girls for almost 18 months.

It was some time ago, but I remain stunned TO THIS DAY that neighbors who were on friendly terms with my wife and myself, simple refused to even acknowledge my mere presence when picking my kids up from school.

Sometimes I'm shocked that this CRAP...and it IS Crap, still goes on, in so many arenas everyday.

Jeebus...last time I checked we're in the 21st Century!

Let's also not forget that there exist at least 8 seperate federal government agencies that address Womens' health issues.

How many for Men?

Close your eyes and tell me what you see.


DLG

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

cop2bnurse41
Jan 20, 2009, 04:24 PM

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing
Well I have been reading this thread for a couple of days now and I am finally ready to put my 2cents in. First Aside from a few gender coments and jokes I have not witnessed any real discrimination to this point. Now there may be some very real cases out there but!!! For the the guys reading this it is probably the first time you are encountering this type of behavior being that we are usually the perpatraitors of said behavior. So pull up your boot straps put a smile on your face and do the best job you can because at the end of the day no one can ever take that away from you!!! If you dont let it get to you they will move on to someone else and let you be! This may sound a little simple minded. But I once had a teacher tell me "Use the Kiss method and you can never go wrong" K-I-S-S. Keep IT Simple Stupid.

I find the above response incredible. Pull up your boot straps? Put a smile on your face? Don't let it get to you? The bullies will move on to someone else? Can you imagine that advice being given to African-Americans who where fighting for their rights during the civil rights movement? Can you imagine women striving to get the vote, or struggling to obtain gender equity in many areas being told to just take it and move on?
Use the kiss method? Keep it simple? I can't believe what I'm reading.
Let's talk about the social politics of this issue. How do you think our society would react today, if most doctors were still all men? What would happen? Maybe quotas and affirmative action? How do you think society would react if only 5 to 7 percent of nurses were women? More quotas and affirmative action? Let's be blunt. This is a gender power struggle. Women control nursing and the nursing profession and they don't want to give up that power. That's understandable. People in power don't want to give up that power. Men didn't and don't when the had it or still have it. Neither do women. Power isn't a gender issue; it's a human issue.
Either gender equity means something or it means nothing. Apparently, in the medical/health care profession it means nothing. Most nurses, med techs, med asssitants, cna's, are women. Certainly there are economic and social reasons for this. But the question is what's being done about it? What specific actions are being taken to change this status quo? Or, does the establishment just accept the status quo as the way it should be -- that these are really all female professions and that men are just tokens that will be admitted in small numbers. Appears to be clear discrimination to me. Make sure we have a few men, maybe 5 or 6 per cent, just to say we allow men to have nurses. More could be done to make men feel more comfortable, to attract men into the profession, to recruit men, to offer incentives. But it's not being done.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

Originally Posted by StuNurseUP

I am not trying to justify a female only policy. I am saying that some women aren't comfortable with men doing thier OB care. I am a grown woman, and I advocated for myself not to have a male nurse for that particualar procedure. I hope I did not hurt the male nurses feelings. I apologized profusely to him, but I wouldn't let him check my cervix. I don't care if a male nurse or doc does other things(IV's etc), but I don't want one doing my Ob care. I personally had a bad experience w/ a male ob doc which is why I was nervous having another male check me. an estimated one out of 3 women in America have been sexually assaulted, this tends to make some women skittish ( I feel terrible that I might have made that nurse feel bad, It wasn't that he was less competent or a sexual predator, but due to previous experiences I was not able to let him do that part of his job.)
I am just tryting to explain why some female patients aren't comfortable with a male nurse doing certain procedures.

First, let me say i am sorry that you had a "bad experience" with a male Dr/Nurse; whatever the case may be...I will assume you were sexually assaulted since you use it in your post.
One out of three women in america have been sexually assaulted? Where are you getting your intel? 33.3% of the population of women in the US? http://www.rainn.org/statistics I did a quick google search. They are pretty easy to do. I think you are WAY off on your numbers. It is true that the REPORTING of sexual assault has went up by 1/3rd since 1993; but I think statistics can be manipulated and EXTREEMLY misunderstood.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

Originally Posted by Thunderwolf

We all have a right to have our preferences respected when receiving medical care. It has nothing really to do with the care giver...only the patient. We need to be sensitive to this.

...While I agree with you that a patient has the right to refuse care, they do not have the right to refuse care based on ANY protected class covered under the Civil Rights Act and/or subsequent addendums to this act.However, it is the undocumented but widely accepted policy of of most hospitals to decline to observe these Federal Laws on a case by case basis. WASP can't refuse care from anybody. Sir.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

Pinfinity -- you are not completely correct. The courts have seen gender choice for intimate kinds of care in a different
category. The research and case law are out there. For a man or woman to want his or her privacy by having a same gender
caregiver for intimate procedures, is not the same as racial or ethnic or gender discrimination. If that were the case, why would the court sallow nursing to be so dominated by one gender? Men as a group haven't challenged civil rights legislation and demanded that they have the same opportunity for same gender care as do women. Women have more often led the battle here, and that's one reason why we see so many female nurses taking care of men, a good number of whom don't feel comfortable with this situation or are not willing to speak up. In most cases a women on OB-GYN is not challenged if she wants a female nurse even if one isn't readily available. One will be found because there are so many around. But a man who wants a male nurse for, let's say a foley cath, may be told one isn't available. This is gender discrimination, and when it is challenged in court, we'll find that the civil rights legislation you mention goes both ways.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

Originally Posted by Cul2

Pinfinity -- you are not completely correct. The courts have seen gender choice for intimate kinds of care in a different
category. The research and case law are out there. For a man or woman to want his or her privacy by having a same gender
caregiver for intimate procedures, is not the same as racial or ethnic or gender discrimination. If that were the case, why would the court sallow nursing to be so dominated by one gender? I'm not sure it is the courts so much as it is the profession that is keeping the profession dominated by females.Maybe it is neither. i don't know. Perhaps it started way back with Floence N.? She was pretty clear on her attitude towards men. It's kinda like that today.

Men as a group haven't challenged civil rights legislation and demanded that they have the same opportunity for same gender care as do women. True, but men who seek legal recourse for perceived discrimination ON THE JOB are swiftly "dealt with" This diatribe of thought is baseless since we are talking about two seperate issues. Perhaps I should have been clearer on this point. But the intent of the original thread makes my comments self explanatory.
Women have more often led the battle here, and that's one reason why we see so many female nurses taking care of men, a good number of whom don't feel comfortable with this situation or are not willing to speak up. In most cases a women on OB-GYN is not challenged if she wants a female nurse even if one isn't readily available. One will be found because there are so many around. But a man who wants a male nurse for, let's say a foley cath, may be told one isn't available. This is gender discrimination, and when it is challenged in court, we'll find that the civil rights legislation you mention goes both ways.

True, and the burden of proof for the plaintiff is very heavy and almost unprooveable if you are a white male. circular reasoning I suppose? LOL!
Thanks for your input.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

The 3 groups that are politically OK to discriminate against; Men, White people, Christians! so as a white male christian no one cares if I am discriminated against, in fact it is just attributed as poetic justice for all the wrongs ever perpetrated my men, whites, and christians. forget the fact that I am not reponsible for any of those events.