Female nurses have more advantage over male nurses?

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I want to know if female nurses have more advantage over male nurses.

Specializes in Making the Pt laugh..

Interesting comments about the inequity over comments. There was a segment on a current affairs show a few years back where they had two lists, the first, "Beer is better than women because..." the second, "Cucumbers are better than men because..." When showing the lists to women, often they saw the humour in one but found the other offensive. Men on the other hand saw the humour in both. They carried out a number of these "social experiments" and found overwhelmingly that as a rule women saw only those things denigrating men as funny while taking offence at those aimed at women.

My only thought is that political correctness and (possibly) years of sexual harrassment have made women more sensitive. Yet at the same time I think that society has placed value on taking offence, look how often a seemingly harmless joke or observation is taken out of context by a self-serving group for the purpose of being offended. I have even seen here at AllNurses threads getting hijacked because someone has taken offence because a negative comment has in some way possibly offended someones cousins-brothers-girlfriends way of life/choices/situation/attitude/etc.

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
Interesting comments about the inequity over comments. There was a segment on a current affairs show a few years back where they had two lists, the first, "Beer is better than women because..." the second, "Cucumbers are better than men because..." When showing the lists to women, often they saw the humour in one but found the other offensive. Men on the other hand saw the humour in both. They carried out a number of these "social experiments" and found overwhelmingly that as a rule women saw only those things denigrating men as funny while taking offence at those aimed at women.

My only thought is that political correctness and (possibly) years of sexual harrassment have made women more sensitive. Yet at the same time I think that society has placed value on taking offence, look how often a seemingly harmless joke or observation is taken out of context by a self-serving group for the purpose of being offended. I have even seen here at AllNurses threads getting hijacked because someone has taken offence because a negative comment has in some way possibly offended someones cousins-brothers-girlfriends way of life/choices/situation/attitude/etc.

I think it has something to do with whether one is perceived as being part of a "privileged" group or a "minority." Women are not a minority, especially in nursing, but there is a not entirely unjustified perception that they have long been second-class citizens.

If someone calls me a "cracker," in jest or even in anger, it just doesn't cut. My self-image isn't altered. WASP jokes don't make me feel on any level like there is anything wrong with me. I'm a middle-aged, middle-class, straight, white male protestant (sorta). Nothing about that makes me better than anyone else, but nothing about that makes me feel--ever--that I'm less than anyone else. I'm also short and fat, and while I can laugh about those things, I can also be offended by remarks about those qualities. So it seems ironic to hear humor described as a defense mechanism, because it seems like a sense of humor about oneself is a reflection of how secure one is in oneself.

I've known a fair number of women who've been ruthlessly self-critical. Smart, funny, loving people who honestly fret about the size of their butt. Women with the body of a Playboy centerfold who don't like their hair, or think they're stupid, or imagine guys are turned off by their nose. (Oh, hey, now that you mention it, that is quite a schnoz. You aren't wearing a bra right now, are you?) All I can think is that society conditions some of us, in subtle ways or gross, to feel bad about ourselves.

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I don't think of it as an advantage, I just think that hiring manager and charges may think twice before hiring a male, when an equally qualified female is up for the position also, it is unfair but I think it all has to do with patients may request.

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Well lets see I am a 35yr old cracker!!! Who does not get offened by much. I guess thats because I hit the streets at fifteen and have supported myself ever since. In these conditions you tend not to sweat the small stuff like silly coments or jokes. They are what they are. You tend to worry about where your next meal is coming from instead. Anyway I guess Im trying to say that if you go throught life with a thin SKIN regardless of gender or color you will be offened more often then not. Lets all take a chill pill and not sweat the small stuff. Plus i still want to make a pile of money writing a book on how women think!:typing Not that I will get it right but the research should be a whole lot of fun!!!:chuckle

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...a little playful teasing is nothing to get ruffled over. I've made the observation at work that if there were more men in nursing, there would be a lot less stress, and only slightly higher patient mortality. It's a grossly unfair comment to both genders, but most of my coworkers would agree that boxers don't seem to get in a bunch as easily as panties do, and they value that.

Ahhh, yes. Words of true wisdom. :smokin: Folks, lets not make this any harder than is already is.:trc:

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
Well lets see I am a 35yr old cracker!!! Who does not get offened by much. I guess thats because I hit the streets at fifteen and have supported myself ever since. In these conditions you tend not to sweat the small stuff like silly coments or jokes. They are what they are. You tend to worry about where your next meal is coming from instead. Anyway I guess Im trying to say that if you go throught life with a thin SKIN regardless of gender or color you will be offened more often then not. Lets all take a chill pill and not sweat the small stuff. Plus i still want to make a pile of money writing a book on how women think!:typing Not that I will get it right but the research should be a whole lot of fun!!!:chuckle

Coming from a previous career as a carpenter, working in a predominantly female environment has been interesting. On the whole, I've found it a positive change. In some respects, I do think learning to "think like a nurse," is very much like learning to "think like a woman," in the sense that a holistic, synthetic, and intuitive approach is often more helpful than strictly linear reasoning. But it's kind of a two-way street. As a man, you may be called upon to access your "feminine" side, but the women we work with are scientists. They have to be able to think critically. They have to maintain a degree of objectivity. It's a little weird to be in a place where you care very deeply about a total stranger, but have to maintain enough detachment to be effective in caring for them. Women in nursing are fascinating, but not entirely like other women.

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Funny speaking of your "feminine" side Thats exactly what my first clinical instructor siad to me with regard to writing my care plans and just about every thing else I did when it comes to nurseing. I was giving the facts and nothing but the facts , Just fix the problem and move on(Police work!!!). She told me to get in touch with my Fem. side. This is the thing that has been the biggest obsticale for me so far. I get the material, score well on tests, and skills are not a problem. But I am at this point very much a "mechanic" that whole nurturing softer side has been a difficult thing for me! Thank god for the girls in my class they have been very helpful in that aspect. I guess this is where the biggest advantage for the girls lie's. When it comes to nursing men have to be taught how to be more nurturing or how ever you want to put it. Most of the girls where born with that already in tact.

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).

I use "feminine" and "masculine" as shorthand, but I really think it's an oversimplification. Men are as capable of love as women are, and in the end, I think that's what it comes down to. We speak of "caring" because it sounds a bit strange to speak of love for a patient you just met. Not quite as intense, perhaps, as love for a spouse, or one's child, or parents, but neither as abstract as "love for one's fellow man."

To be honest, I dreaded clinicals in school. Everyday, every intervention, felt like a final exam. Pass one med without checking your two identifiers and you're outta there. Take a BP and you can't find the brachial pulse and you look like an incompetent fool. Still, there were moments when you could just sit and talk with your patients, and the more you get to know them, the more amazing they were. One of mine I'll never forget was a retired schoolteacher, and there in the hospital with terminal cancer, he was teaching me.

To me, that's one way nursing practice is better than nursing school, because you do get more time to connect to your patients. And while it's a harsh truth that not all patients are exactly lovable, there's still a bond. They might be a pain in the ass, but they're my pain in the ass. Plus, there are plenty it's a true privilege to know, if only for twelve hours.

It's a hard thing to explain, but I think it's where a lot of the idea of nursing as a "calling" comes from. Off hand, about the only thing in the Bible I accept without reservation is where it says, "God is love." And it's a pretty powerful thing, when you connect to that.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education, and Acute Care.

Wow... I can't believe some of the statements I've read here. There have been some really wonderful insights passed on, and then there have been some remarkably insensitive ones as well.

I had to register here just so I could respond to one particular one.

Early in the thread a female poster wrote that male nurses are well accepted because they are good to have around for lifting heavy patients.

Okay, how about this perspective - female nurses are good to have around because they look pretty and the male patients like to get bed baths from them. Offensive? Yes, I think so too. Equally as offensive as the previous statement.

Please use a little consideration in your postings people.

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Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.
When it comes to nursing men have to be taught how to be more nurturing or how ever you want to put it.

I disagree.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education, and Acute Care.
When it comes to nursing men have to be taught how to be more nurturing or how ever you want to put it. Most of the girls where born with that already in tact.

I completely disagree with this. It sounds to me like your cop training came first and it is at odds with your nurse training.

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You may be right my Police training may be at odds with my nursing training, but once I get them meshed together which is starting to happen I think it is going to be a huge advantage. I will have the nurturing, clinical skills, people skills, as well the skills my prior career have provided me. You learn to see things differently as a cop. Not to mention you are already oreinted to high stress emergancy situations which most new nurses male or female would get flustered in. Many of the people that I work with have already commented on how level headed I am when the Poop hits the fan more so than any of the new nurses and in many cases more then the Vets, regardless of gender.

Just a note I like and respect all nurses they are smart hardworking good people! I just like the Females more simply because they are female!:D I am just joking around please dont crucify me!!!

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