Forced wearing of nursing cap.

Nursing Students General Students

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  1. Is this sexist or gender bias?

    • 95
      yes
    • 101
      no

196 members have participated

I'm a senior registered nursing student and our school has a pinning ceremony to mark the completion of our program.

Our class contains about 20% men, equal split of black and white in both genders. I am approaching 50 and this is not my first career.

The director of the nursing program gave the class the "option to vote" on the wearing of a nurses cap for the pinning ceremony and our class photo. The majority of the class voted to wear the cap, men excluded from wear.

I do not wish to wear the cap and have been told by program director that "the class voted to wear it and you have to or you will not be able to participate". I understand the cap is traditional, but I feel it calls specific attention to my gender and not my success in passing nursing school. I've worked very hard to get where I'm at and I wish to celebrate my success with a pinning ceremony.

I truly feel that being "forced" to wear the cap is discriminatory based on my gender alone. Period. The guys are not made to wear them because they are considered "feminine or female dress", and I don't wish to be "forced" to dress as such either (we are all wearing pant-scrubs by unanimous vote).

I respect the choice of anyone else that wishes to wear the nursing cap. I don't and won't presume to force my opinion on them.

Has anyone else had this experience?

Does anyone know of any precedence against forced wearing of nursing caps to participate in school activities, etc? Any input on how else to proceed in approaching my school administration would be appreciated.

I welcome the input from both genders, seasoned and new nurses, students and educators, and anyone else on here that wants to chime in.

I ask only, that you be nice to me and each other. This is very serious for me.

Specializes in Surgical/MedSurg/Oncology/Hospice.

I think it is discriminatory... the male students are allowed to participate and are not required to wear the cap. The female students who do not wish to wear the cap are being told they must wear the cap or they cannot participate...I'm with the OP on this one...

If it's such a big issue for you, just don't go to the ceremony. Everyone wins.

I'd show up without the cap. Unless they plan to make the men wear the cap, it is discrimination.

Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.

I'm glad my school did away with them. I saw some of the photos from prior classes and the caps they had looked goofy, almost cartoonish. I don't believe that anyone should have been made to wear one.

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
From another perspective: should a school that receives money from the federal government in the forms of financial aid be permitted to discriminate against a student based on sex?

If this is the hill you wish to die on, go ahead. I think you got a lot of good advice from previous posters. Would you still think the ceremony was discriminatory if the vote had swung your way?

My class did black dresses/pants suits for women and I think black pants and button up shirt for men. Classy. I did get a pinning picture and I love it. We have a big picture with the whole class and small pictures of individuals around it. They do it every year.

I think you are making a mountain out of a mole hill, by the way.

Traditions are a way to tie the past to the present. In the field of nursing, the pinning ceremony and caps are an acknowledgement of the generations who founded and grew the profession. If I were female, I would go along with the desire of the majority. It's a small thing, it does no harm, and it's a bit of a salute to those who created the job you're embarking on.

I think it's kind of sad that so many people are willing to ditch tradition. I agree that it's a way to tie the past with the future and I don't see it as a sexist issue at all. My grandmother was a WWII nurse and I love my picture of her in her nurse whites with hat on. I was proud and honored to wear my hat and my white dress and hose for one day to celebrate my own accomplishment and as a tribute to my grandmother and all past nurses' achievements. I am glad I don't have to wear the hat to work, but it is special to me. Kind of a silly issue to get worked up over in my opinion. Congratulations on graduating - I bet there were at least a couple of folks that didn't pass who would be glad to wear any hat for a day in exchange for becoming a nurse. Just as a side note: on random occasions when I wear all white scrubs to work I get a surprising amount of respect from both doctors and patients.

I would show up without it and if not allowed to participate do be it. after passing school and the nclex i would tell them off in a nice letter or two if i wanted to. maybe some bored news tv reporter would enjoy this depending on how boring your local news is and how much of a backlash you fear getting. honestly, be prepared for this in the real world of nursing

Specializes in retired LTC.

As much as I am an advocate of caps, I do believe that NO ONE should be forced to wear a cap in today's standard dress code.

I'm swallowing hard as I say this as I think the difficulty here is the all-or-none cap requirement that bothers me.

Is there sexism, gender-bias or discrimination here -I doubt it. I think your poll tries to measure the wrong perspective. A better poll should have asked whether cap-wearing at your ceremony should be mandatory.

And for that I would have voted a big fat NO. And I would have supported you but for a different reason - that of freedom of choice.

Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.
If this is the hill you wish to die on, go ahead. I think you got a lot of good advice from previous posters. Would you still think the ceremony was discriminatory if the vote had swung your way?

This is where I stand. The issue was put to a majority vote, and unfortunately you wound up on the losing side. If you are willing to risk missing out on the public acknowledgement of your proud achievement over wearing a cap, so be it. Like many significant events in life, pinning only happens once. Bite the bullet and stand proudly with your classmates. It's not like you will ever have to wear the cap again.

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
From another perspective: should a school that receives money from the federal government in the forms of financial aid be permitted to discriminate against a student based on sex?

Many of the schools take a hands-off approach with regard to the details of the ceremony and the financing of it, so I'm not sure this would apply under those circumstances. The time to nip it in the bud if that's what you want to do is to speak up forcefully at the beginning of that process.

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