Fascinating article about male/female nurse pay dfferences

softrbreeze · Mar 25, 2015

Doesn't surprise me at all. And not just in regards to pay. Until recently, my home hospice employer was requiring the nurses, social workers, and chaplains to take turns relieving our AA for lunch. Then a few months ago they hired the 1st male RN since they had started that requirement and I predicted they would stop it once he was out of training. What do you know...guess I should hang my shingle out advertising "Psychic- Get Your Fortunes Told", 'cause that's exactly what happened. I was just a lucky beneficiary of male privilege that time.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Mar 25, 2015

I still say there's plenty of non-sexist explanations for male nurses averaging higher yearly incomes, even in the same fields.

The article even admits it didn't adjust for the fact that women tend to work PT more often than men. I'm willing to bet men work more OT relative to women, too. Or how about women taking unpaid maternity leave? Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this study compare annual income disparities? Annual income is meaningless if you're comparing a group that has a higher percentage of PT workers to one that has a higher percentage of FT. I'd be more convinced by a direct comparison of hourly wages then by a comparison of annual incomes.

And I find it a bit much to call the choices women make re:their own lives to be a reflection of sexism.

Libby1987 · Mar 25, 2015

I would like to hear a candid discussion between managers regarding whether they prefer men as employees and why.

I have worked with so few men but I wonder how their call outs, tardiness, stamina, drama, time mgmt, confidence, assertiveness and anything else you can think of compare to women. Are they typically equivalent in nursing?

scottaprn · Mar 25, 2015

This study was very poorly done. No control for shift differential, controlled for years since graduation instead of years of experience, no control for full time vs. part time, no control for if CRNA is a partner in a practice vs. an employee and no control for benefits (salary is only a part of compensation.

Pretty disappointed to see the spokesperson from the ANA compliment the study. If one of my students gave me this as a project I would have shredded it.

MatrixRn · Mar 26, 2015

Speaking from someone who has had male nurses on the floor, I can honestly say that they hold no preference for me. I expect them to work the same as the female nurses. Often times I see staff expect them to do all the heavy lifting and i will intervene. Not fair.

Overtime I have had three on the floor: one is a go getter....an excellent patient advocate and always goes the extra mile. He pitches in to help when he is done with his patient care.

The second does good work, but he can get side tracked. Especially if it is a task that he did not want to do. And when he wants to get out of something he turns on the charm. And it works, not on me, but on most of his fellow staff.

While the third was lazy as sin. He delivered good patient care but sloooowly, so others needed to pick up his slack for any serious issues. The other staff complained about his listless behavior all the time...and rightly so. As a side bar, it took a great deal of wrangling before I could finally get rid of him.......other managers etc wanted to keep him because he was a male.

In addition, I would say that each of the males that I worked with had stellar attendance, would volunteer often for OT and carried themselves in a profession manner....meaning they did not gossip.

Anna S, RN · Mar 26, 2015

I still say there's plenty of non-sexist explanations for male nurses averaging higher yearly incomes, even in the same fields.
The article even admits it didn't adjust for the fact that women tend to work PT more often than men. I'm willing to bet men work more OT relative to women, too. Or how about women taking unpaid maternity leave? Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this study compare annual income disparities? Annual income is meaningless if you're comparing a group that has a higher percentage of PT workers to one that has a higher percentage of FT. I'd be more convinced by a direct comparison of hourly wages then by a comparison of annual incomes.
And I find it a bit much to call the choices women make re:their own lives to be a reflection of sexism.

Every time I see an article on the web re: men earning more for same education/job etc., there are always men poo-pooing it.

Why is it so difficult to admit that pay disparity based on sex does exist?

Just like racism, and ageism, sexism is real.

Study after study has been done over many decades showing that men earn more for the same jobs.

I work with a male nurse right now who is a bit lazy, and has too leave early often for various things. I've worked with women like this, as well. Both sexes do these things.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Mar 26, 2015

Every time I see an article on the web re: men earning more for same education/job etc., there are always men poo-pooing it.
Why is it so difficult to admit that pay disparity based on sex does exist?
Just like racism, and ageism, sexism is real.
Study after study has been done over many decades showing that men earn more for the same jobs.
I work with a male nurse right now who is a bit lazy, and has too leave early often for various things. I've worked with women like this, as well. Both sexes do these things.

I don't deny the findings of studies that show men earning more than women. I just think there are other explanations for those findings bedsides sexism. A man making more than a woman isn't automatically sexist. Of course, sometimes the explanation is sexism. But I think most of the time the explanation is found in factors such as men being better at advocating for themselves or women taking longer and more frequent periods where they don't work (which disrupts seniority).

Until the continuation of the species is done via cloning, like in Brave New World or something, women bear the biological burden/blessing of childbirth. No matter how you look at it, this disrupts your average career-woman at some point, in some way. Calling this sexist is a bit of a stretch, IMO.

Anna S, RN · Mar 28, 2015

I don't deny the findings of studies that show men earning more than women. I just think there are other explanations for those findings bedsides sexism. A man making more than a woman isn't automatically sexist. Of course, sometimes the explanation is sexism. But I think most of the time the explanation is found in factors such as men being better at advocating for themselves or women taking longer and more frequent periods where they don't work (which disrupts seniority).
Until the continuation of the species is done via cloning, like in Brave New World or something, women bear the biological burden/blessing of childbirth. No matter how you look at it, this disrupts your average career-woman at some point, in some way. Calling this sexist is a bit of a stretch, IMO.

There are many factors contributing to why men make more money than women, and sometimes, sexism is one of them.

As a woman who has never had children, and more and more of us aren't, the child bearing/rearing thing does not always apply.

"Isms" do exist, and they do have an effect.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Apr 1, 2015

We now have multiple threads on this same subject.

I'll say it again. My husband and I started at the same institution in the same ICU on the same day at the same salary. I had five years more nursing experience, a Master's degree to his diploma and a resume highlighting special projects, committee work and publications. He didn't bother to write a resume.

After a year in which I had joined two committees, completed a project, taught classes and published an article, he was advanced two levels on the clinical ladder and given a big pay raise. I was told "keep doing what you're doing and we'll see next year." He had worked his forty hours and gone home, loudly proclaiming to all and sundry that he wasn't going to join a committee, do a project, teach a class or write an article. Since each year's salary increase was a percentage of what you were already earning, the gap between our salaries got bigger and bigger. I kept on doing what I was doing and in three more years (when we got a new manager) got advanced on the clinical ladder and given a more modest pay raise.

I still have more experience, more education and do more extras. Our annual evaluations are so similar as to be almost identical. That's a gender gap.