Although Women Dominate the Nursing Profession, Do Men Make More Money?

[allnurses]

Male nurses make $5000/year more across all specialties than their female counterparts. This was proven in our survey as well. And more importantly WHY? USA Today has an interesting take on this. They theorize that women frequently leave the workforce to care for children or family issues. When they return to work, they typically return to the same salary/hourly rate that they left with while men, who traditionally don't take time off from work for child care, continue up the salary scale. AN has had discussions also about the earnings disparity.

Stubborn Pay Gap is Found in Nursing: Males Earn $5100 more/Yr details a JAMA study released in March 2015 which was partially compiled by census data. Several posters in this thread agreed with all these findings by providing anecdotal incidents.

Another thread, from 2011, Male Nurses on the Rise and they Make More Money provides us with more possible reasons for this disparity: men work more overtime hours, men work more off-shifts and more males work in the higher acuity units like ICU and ER. Some members also pointed out that males seem more willing to try to negotiate for a higher salary when hired.

So, let's get some more input - why do you think male nurses earn more than female nurses?

References:

Male Registered Nurses Make Thousands More in Salary than Female Counterparts

Women Dominate Nursing, Yet Men Make More

[elkpark]

NurseAshlee1989 said:

No I don't think this would be fair at all. I don't think it would be fair if a nurse with 5 years experience made more PER HOUR than a new grad of any gender. Or if a nurse with 15 years experience made as much PER HOUR as a nurse with 4 years experience, again of any gender.

Thankfully this does not happen as wage where I work is based on experience and education ...

(Did you accidentally omit some words, or do you really mean that you don't think people with more experience should making more money?)

[NurseAshlee1989]

elkpark said:

(Did you accidentally omit some words, or do you really mean that you don't think people with more experience should making more money?)

I am sorry I did phrase that wrong. I do not believe it is right for someone with more nursing experience and education to make LESS than someone who does not have the same qualifications. I apologize for the typo.

[janemulligan]

Sure female nurses outnumber male nurses by a huge margin. I guess I am lucky that the place where I work, doesn't really discriminate between the two genders in terms of money. I have male colleagues at the emergency department here, and even though it is against the policy to reveal your salary to your colleagues, general discussions like this one have made me aware that male nurses with the same experience as I have, are earning just as much as I do.

The reason, however, that at other places there is a huge difference in the salary of male and female nurses might be that the management believes that male nurses are comparatively more efficient than female nurses. Which, in the first place, is not true. Female nurses are as efficient and dedicated as male nurses.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

My husband (also an RN), has turned down 3 "promotions" because they would entail dramatic decreases in take home pay (20-30%). He takes in account nights and weekend plan differentials. These promotions do not. Those jobs would involve great advantages in that they would have day hours and in some cases an increase in base wages. The problem is that those off-shift differentials add enormous bonuses to one's yearly take home pay.

I would predict a woman (especially one with children) would be more attracted to the more family-friendly schedule (M-F days or office hours, no holidays).

[PinayUSA]

GE90 said:

come on feminists, where are u? time to come out, blame men or the society for ur personal failure

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