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 LTC full time Hospital Float PRN.

No! at least not that I know of.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education, and Acute Care.
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.

Nursemike - I just re-read your statement here and I find it to be remarkable insightful. Thank you for posting that.

I have found that men and women are very much the same from the start. I believe that societal expectations have molded and caused suppression of certain masculine and feminine traits based on expectations and societal needs and the gender of the individual. This is not normally an issue within society but within the field of nursing there are additional requirements. Therefore I believe you are correct in that women in nursing really must overcome some of their stereotypical feminine traits, much as men must overcome some of their stereotypical traits. With women, they need to not suppress their traditionally masculine qualities such as logical, objective, and critical thinking, yet still maintain their feminine qualities of nurturing, expressing love through actions, and, as you put it, caring for a total stranger. Men need to maintain their expected traits of masculine thinking, as well as stop suppressing the stereotypical feminine traits and find themselves able to take care of others without fear of compromising their masculinity.

Tell me what you think.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
I want to know if female nurses have more advantage over male nurses.

*** In terms of patient care no. Good and not so good nurses are out there of both sexes. In terms of advancement and acceptance in the profession, yest they certainly do. There are still lots of nurses out there who believe men have no business in nursing. These tend to be older nurses, thus in management and leadership rolls. They can and will use their positions to make life hard for male RNs.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education, and Acute Care.
...in management and leadership rolls. They can and will use their positions to make life hard for male RNs.

I used to not believe that and I used to think privately that it was just "sour grapes" from someone not getting his way, but I have seen it and experienced it personally.

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
Nursemike - I just re-read your statement here and I find it to be remarkable insightful. Thank you for posting that.

I have found that men and women are very much the same from the start. I believe that societal expectations have molded and caused suppression of certain masculine and feminine traits based on expectations and societal needs and the gender of the individual. This is not normally an issue within society but within the field of nursing there are additional requirements. Therefore I believe you are correct in that women in nursing really must overcome some of their stereotypical feminine traits, much as men must overcome some of their stereotypical traits. With women, they need to not suppress their traditionally masculine qualities such as logical, objective, and critical thinking, yet still maintain their feminine qualities of nurturing, expressing love through actions, and, as you put it, caring for a total stranger. Men need to maintain their expected traits of masculine thinking, as well as stop suppressing the stereotypical feminine traits and find themselves able to take care of others without fear of compromising their masculinity.

Tell me what you think.

Nature vs nurture: it's an interesting and complicated problem. I believe the research that male brains and female brains are different, but the difference is subtle, and any particular man can be more like some particular woman than some particular man. I think most of the really obvious differences are cultural--we're taught things like "boys don't cry." And it's often not consciously taught, we just pick it up as we grow up.

Once, while working in my unlicensed, pre-nurse job, another orderly and I were shooting the breeze with a couple of aides, talking about movies we'd seen. The girls (the aides) were going on about some tear-jerker they'd seen recently, and I mentioned that I'd cried during The English Patient twice: once during the part where my cat climbed up my pants leg, and again at the end, when I realized I'd wasted $2 to rent and a couple hours of my life to watch that piece of crap. My buddy was razzing pretty heavily the whole idea of crying over a movie. But then I remarked that I had just seen Field of Dreams, again, on TV that week, and I always did get a little choked up when Kevin Costner and his Dad played catch, and my retired Petty Officer buddy replied, "Oh, God, yes, I bawled like a baby the first time I watched that." And, of course, our two female colleagues walked away deeply impressed that we were so in touch with our softer side, and/or convinced we were totally nuts. Probably more the latter.

I'm kind of a Taoist, at heart, and one of the neat things I've found about nursing is that it forces us to balance qualities we tend to think of as conflicting, when they are really just parts of a whole. Masculine/feminine. Caring/detached. School talks a lot about critical thinking, and it is very important, but I've been amazed how often critical feeling is just as important. Nursing without empathy is just drudgery, but when you find a connection, wiping a butt can be pretty darned spiritual.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education, and Acute Care.
Nature vs nurture: it's an interesting and complicated problem. I believe the research that male brains and female brains are different, but the difference is subtle, and any particular man can be more like some particular woman than some particular man. I think most of the really obvious differences are cultural--we're taught things like "boys don't cry." And it's often not consciously taught, we just pick it up as we grow up....

You and I have no difference of opinion here. In fact, you seem to have thought this through a little further than I have.

...one of the neat things I've found about nursing is that it forces us to balance qualities we tend to think of as conflicting, when they are really just parts of a whole. Masculine/feminine. Caring/detached. School talks a lot about critical thinking, and it is very important, but I've been amazed how often critical feeling is just as important. Nursing without empathy is just drudgery, but when you find a connection, wiping a butt can be pretty darned spiritual.

Never have I heard the term "critical feeling." I like that a lot. After I figure out what the true deep meaning of it is, I will have to pass that on to my students. That, and I may have to write up a powerpoint lecture on the spirituality of butt-wiping. :D

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
You and I have no difference of opinion here. In fact, you seem to have thought this through a little further than I have.

Never have I heard the term "critical feeling." I like that a lot. After I figure out what the true deep meaning of it is, I will have to pass that on to my students. That, and I may have to write up a powerpoint lecture on the spirituality of butt-wiping. :D

Another thread on these boards prompted me to Google Jean Watson (I do hope she didn't mind), and at first reading, my brain glazed over just like in school: "Yada, yada, yada, caring, blah, blah, blah." But working as a nurse, I've been startled more than once at how the painful, tedious crap we had to endure in nursing school turns out to actually mean something. Who'da thunk it? So, forcing myself to weed through the jargon, I began to think a lot of what Watson was saying was kinda similar to common sense. So I think of critical feeling as a compliment to critical thinking, not so much a matter of the warm and fuzzies, but actively recognizing the emotional side of the equation, how my patients feelings--and mine--influence our relationship. And trying, somehow, to use that in my work.

Honestly, I think cats should be mandatory for nurses. Cats teach empathy. You love them, they love you, and you communicate that love to each other. They have expressive aphasia (they only pretend to have global aphasia, but they really understand most of what you say) but they are very expressive. They need and expect you to read their minds, and they won't give up until you do. If my patients ever learn to meow, I'm doomed!

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
I used to not believe that and I used to think privately that it was just "sour grapes" from someone not getting his way, but I have seen it and experienced it personally.

*** Welcome to the club.

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hey...a question to the guy from Oklahoma. I am looking at getting into nursing and I live in Oklahoma. How is the job prospect for males there?

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Specializes in Family Practice/Primary Care.

I see a slight bias against. On the first floor I worked after graduation, I was flat told by an HR employee I was being held to a different standard. (I resigned the next day as well. I still loathe those bigots. A pity I have no way of proving it, or else I would have found out who in the government does the discrimination thing and taken great glee in reporting it.)

Question: If you are unfairly treated and they flat out state it is because you are male, do you have any real recourse?

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