Has Feminism Abandoned Nurses?

[Teresag_CNS]

Waitresses, sex workers, mothers, child care workers....all are included in the welcoming arms of a feminist ethos that values the work of women in society. Women in historically male occupations such as lawyers, physicians, business managers, and such are allowed entry, too.

But not nurses. Why?

Misogynistic stereotypes of dumb nurse-sexpots abound in Halloween costumes , television , and even in

. It's pretty plain that the profession takes its hits for being female-dominated, intimate, and, in many ways, downright unpleasant . The work of nurses is the traditional work of women: personal, caring, and intellectual simultaneously, without a great deal of prestige or recognition. Nursing embodies precisely the sort of roles that should fire up feminists' advocacy engines.

Yet feminist media do not feature articles about support and empowerment of nurses, the largest group of health care providers. A search of feministing.com, for one, revealed a smattering of articles, mostly about lay midwives (who are not nurses) and breastfeeding. My subscriptions to B*tch and Ms. do nothing to make me feel included in feminism as a professional. As an artist, a woman, a wife, a reader, a listener of music and a daughter - yes. But nothing about life as a nurse.

Nurses' workplace horrors rival those of the most mistreated workers anywhere. We face high rates of work-related injury, suboptimal staffing and mandatory overtime (in addition to the less-avoidable weekend, night and holiday shifts and exposure to hazardous body fluids and chemicals). If feminists supported the 2.6 million registered nurses in the United States, would it remain a dirty secret that 69 - 85% of nurses report having experienced sexual harrassment (mostly by physicians) on the job? (see Valente, 2004).

Nurses are, in many ways, the solution to health care reform. Why aren't feminist organizations telling the public that, for example, better funding for educating advanced practice nurses (APRN) to provide primary care would save health care dollars? APRN students in Seattle undertook a media campaign when the University of Washington increased their tuition to equal that of medical students, but feminist magazines and websites missed the story entirely. No matter that nurses pay our own way through graduate school because of lack of federal funding. No matter that medical residencies receive 375 federal dollars for every 1 dollar spent on nursing residencies (despite the much greater numbers of nurses needed in health care and the 27% rate of one-year turnover among new nursing graduates.)

Even the willingly ignorant cannot help but hearing of the critical nursing shortage . Much of the shortage is attributed to nursing faculty shortages caused by persistently low faculty salaries. A graduate education in nursing does not bring with it proportional increases in compensation. Most nurses remain educated in 2-year community college programs because there is a lack of drive for better-educated professional nurses, even though research shows better patient and organizational outcomes when nurses have more education. Nursing' recent emphasis on doctoral education for advanced practice nurses was met with opposition from the medical community, who apparently consider highly educated nurses a threat.

So, in nursing we have an underfunded, under-appreciated caring profession that gets little recognition and encounters active opposition to efforts to advance our status. Ninety-three percent of us are women. We place ourselves in both physical and psychological danger to nurse. We swim upstream to advance our educations. We work strange hours, skipping meals and breaks because employers do not staff adequately. We are customarily called by our first names, but we call our physician colleagues "doctor." Resistance in the hierarchical systems that exist in health care settings is met by firings, harrassment, and legal action for nurses.

What about this makes the nursing profession worth ignoring to feminists? Are feminists, too, buying into the stereotype of nurse as feckless doctor-servant? Is the whole nursing mess so hard to manage intellectually and emotionally that even the brave and smart are afraid to enter? Or are nurses viewed as so complicit in our own oppression that feminism can hardly be bothered?

Whichever, it's time feminists started paying attention.

Valente, S. M., Bullough, V. (2004). Sexual harassment of nurses in the workplace, Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 19(3), 234-241.

[elkpark]

I wouldn't say feminism has ignored nursing as much as I would say nursing has ignored feminism -- I've talked about most of these issues with colleagues at work for the last few decades (being a hard core, old school feminist myself -- my friends were horrified when I chose to go into nursing in the early '80s) and get little or no response. Feminist organizations were v. interested in making common cause with nurses back in the '70s and '80s, but nothing came of their efforts to reach out to nurses. Unfortunately, most of the nurses I've known over the years seem perfectly content to remain an "oppressed majority" (not in the sense that they don't complain about it all the time, but they haven't seemed willing to make any noise or effort to attempt to change the situation ...).

However, it probably doesn't hurt to bring these issues up again once in a while -- maybe more people will be interested this time around.

[hearts895, RN BSN]

What about this makes the nursing profession worth ignoring to feminists? Are feminists, too, buying into the stereotype of nurse as feckless doctor-servant? Is the whole nursing mess so hard to manage intellectually and emotionally that even the brave and smart are afraid to enter? Or are nurses viewed as so complicit in our own oppression that feminism can hardly be bothered?

Whichever, it's time feminists started paying attention.

I'm brave & smart, if I do say so myself lol, and I'm not afraid to enter. Maybe I'm viewing nursing wrong, but speaking as someone who is entering nursing school, I always thought that one of the cool things about nursing is that it is one of the few female-dominated professions that has so much respect from most people (granted not all, but I've met people who don't respect doctors either). Any time I see a poll, nurses are at the top of the list of most respected professions. I think that the medical field is one of the most advanced, difficult, impressive fields of work our society has and I find it awe inspiring to think that, in a way, a nurse is second in command of such an amazing complex field. I think it speaks volumes to nurses' respectibility that nurses are on the front lines of the entire medical field. Also, honestly, I don't need a "feminist" to speak up for me. I can speak up for myself. Most so called feminists unfortunately don't even seem to share my same values/perspective on life. Maybe I'm living in a bubble, but when I told people I got into nursing school I got a lot of respect. I have yet to hear any cliche about being a Dr.'s servant. Some people may think that we are Dr's servants, but those are generally the same people would diss the 1st mate of ship as being lower than the captain, or the Vice President as being lower than the President. Everything is all about "who's on top" to those people. Who cares what they think though - we know what we're worth!!

And yes, I know I'm a naive new Nursing Student who doesn't really know anything from a hole in the wall lol (I admit this freely!), but this is JMHO. :)

[Moogie]

First of all, Teresag_CNS, thank you for starting an informative, provocative thread. I think you raise extremely valid points on the relationship (or lack thereof?) between feminism and nursing.

I have two book recommendations for you and anyone else (particularly students) who wish to look more at the topic of feminism in nursing. The first is an older book; I have read it and found it to be interesting. It sits on my shelf now, however, and I won't be able to look at it again until spring break.

http://www.amazon.com/Feminism-Nursing-Historical-Perspective-Profession/dp/0275951200/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267917864&sr=1-1

The second book is one I recently ordered; I hope to find it thought-provoking as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Daring-Care-American-Second-Wave-Feminism/dp/0252074815/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267918148&sr=1-2

I was very glad to find references to feminist theory and feminist perspectives in the theory texts I am using for grad school. I hope that schools will continue to explore feminist theory and get students at least thinking about the gender inequities that are apparent in our health system. Although medicine has become more gender-neutral, nursing still (unfortunately) is a female-dominated profession, so there are inequities in how nurses are perceived---by themselves, by physicians, by patients, and my administration---and inequities in patient care between men and women.

Thank you again for starting this thread and for the article. I will access it through my university and add it to the ever-expanding article folders.

[Moogie]

I wouldn't say feminism has ignored nursing as much as I would say nursing has ignored feminism -- I've talked about most of these issues with colleagues at work for the last few decades (being a hard core, old school feminist myself -- my friends were horrified when I chose to go into nursing in the early '80s) and get little or no response. Feminist organizations were v. interested in making common cause with nurses back in the '70s and '80s, but nothing came of their efforts to reach out to nurses. Unfortunately, most of the nurses I've known over the years seem perfectly content to remain an "oppressed majority" (not in the sense that they don't complain about it all the time, but they haven't seemed willing to make any noise or effort to attempt to change the situation ...).

However, it probably doesn't hurt to bring these issues up again once in a while -- maybe more people will be interested this time around.

Ellpark, I don't know if you have encountered this in the academic setting or not; I have noticed that while many nurse educators in academic settings seem to consider themselves feminists, many students in the programs in which those educators teach, do not consider themselves to be feminists and are ignorant of the struggles and progress made by the second-wave feminists. I am not sure if this is a generational difference or if female undergraduate nursing students are more likely to embrace "traditional" feminine values. It is a phenomenon into which I would be interested in doing research someday.

[oramar]

I have ranted about that very thing on several occasions right here on these boards. I for one got very insulted back in the '60s and 70s when the women's movement referred to nursing as a "pink collar ghetto". I caught them doing it more than once. I was actually a card carrying member of NOW back then and they lost me on kind of it. The women's lib movement(as it was called back then) consisted of a bunch of upper class educated women who wanted equal professional status with the men with whom they attended Ivy League Schools. They were NOT about class equality, if they had been they would have had to pay their day care workers, nannies and maids a living wage and they were not about to do that. I do believe they considered nurses to be waitresses/maids and doctor handmaidens. They women's movement of the mid 20th century actually crashed and burned because they failed to be inclusive. The women's movement came back later in the 80s and reinvented itself as "feminism" and has to some extent reached out to the ordinary people. But I really think it missed it big chance about 40 years ago because it was so exclusive. PS. Once I read an article by a historian that documented the history of feminism in the 20th Century. She said something along the same lines as me . This author divided the womens movement into three eras, suffragette, women's lib and feminist. The first fell apart when women got the right to vote, the second fell apart because it was too elitest. The third fizzled as the 21st Century was ushered in because young women considered all the battles to have all been won. They have not been won by any means believe me.

[ItsTheDude]

Waitresses, sex workers, mothers, child care workers = female dominated but generally taken advantage of or under paid/under appreciated. (feminist take on their cause because they're OBVIOUS equity issues)

lawyers, physicians, business managers = male dominated. (feminist take on their cause because women are OBVIOUSLY under represented (equity issue) in those areas)

nursing, it's a female dominated career where there isn't an OBVIOUS equity issue (fairness). the pay is above avg, the working conditions are above avg, there are commericials about how great nurses are, job security and opportunities are above avg, etc.

whoopdedoo, many nurses fill under appreciated, but so do most people (that includes men) in all the other jobs out there that don't have the advantages nursing does.

[CranberryMuffin]

Ellpark, I don't know if you have encountered this in the academic setting or not; I have noticed that while many nurse educators in academic settings seem to consider themselves feminists, many students in the programs in which those educators teach, do not consider themselves to be feminists and are ignorant of the struggles and progress made by the second-wave feminists. I am not sure if this is a generational difference or if female undergraduate nursing students are more likely to embrace "traditional" feminine values. It is a phenomenon into which I would be interested in doing research someday.

I've definitely encountered this in the academic setting. I think a lot of the younger students really dismiss the idea of feminism as having anything to do with them - even though we wouldn't be where we are today without the work of feminists before us. They tend to take things for granted.

I tend to feel pretty alienated from the attitudes at school that get thrown around about feminism (as being man hating or whatnot), but then again, I am a little bit older than most of my classmates and I just have a different perspective on life than they do. I wasn't expecting them to all be so conservative in this respect and I'm not sure if it's the school I go to or if it really is something to do with the new generation of nurses.

[elkpark]

Ellpark, I don't know if you have encountered this in the academic setting or not; I have noticed that while many nurse educators in academic settings seem to consider themselves feminists, many students in the programs in which those educators teach, do not consider themselves to be feminists and are ignorant of the struggles and progress made by the second-wave feminists. I am not sure if this is a generational difference or if female undergraduate nursing students are more likely to embrace "traditional" feminine values. It is a phenomenon into which I would be interested in doing research someday.

Yes, that's a distinction that I didn't make in my comment -- I was referring to "rank and file," bedside/generalist nurses. The atmosphere in grad school was significantly different.

I have ranted about that very thing on several occasions right here on these boards. I for one got very insulted back in the '60s and 70s when the women's movement referred to nursing as a "pink collar ghetto". I caught them doing it more than once. I was actually a card carrying member of NOW back then and they lost me on kind of it. The women's lib movement(as it was called back then) consisted of a bunch of upper class educated women who wanted equal professional status with the men with whom they attended Ivy League Schools. They were NOT about class equality, if they had been they would have had to pay their day care workers, nannies and maids a living wage and they were not about to do that. I do believe they considered nurses to be waitresses/maids and doctor handmaidens. They women's movement of the mid 20th century actually crashed and burned because they failed to be inclusive. The women's movement came back later in the 80s and reinvented itself as "feminism" and has to some extent reached out to the ordinary people. But I really think it missed it big chance about 40 years ago because it was so exclusive. PS. Once I read an article by a historian that documented the history of feminism in the 20th Century. She said something along the same lines as me . This author divided the womens movement into three eras, suffragette, women's lib and feminist. The first fell apart when women got the right to vote, the second fell apart because it was too elitest. The third fizzled as the 21st Century was ushered in because young women considered all the battles to have all been won. They have not been won by any means believe me.

That was not at all the experience I had in my NOW chapter (in a Southern, Bible belt state) -- we were a v. diverse group with a strong blue-collar/working-class presence in the membership. We worked on many joint projects with the textile workers' union in our area, raised money for the legal defense of battered (working class) women who had fought back against their husbands, and all kinds of decidedly "non-elitist" issues and projects. In fact, it was my NOW chapter that organized the class action suit against the hospital at which I trained to eliminate the ban on women employees wearing pants and requirement that (female) nurses wear caps (this was in the late '80s -- I had moved away from the area by that time). I'm sorry you had a negative experience.

Also, I never felt insulted by the term "pink collar ghetto" -- to me, it seemed (and still does -- I use it occasionally myself) a simple, factual description of the primarily, traditionally, female occupations (it was never intended to refer specifically, exclusively, to nursing).

[Moogie]

Waitresses, sex workers, mothers, child care workers = female dominated but generally taken advantage of or under paid/under appreciated. (feminist take on their cause because they're OBVIOUS equity issues)

lawyers, physicians, business managers = male dominated. (feminist take on their cause because women are OBVIOUSLY under represented (equity issue) in those areas)

nursing, it's a female dominated career where there isn't an OBVIOUS equity issue (fairness). the pay is above avg, the working conditions are above avg, there are commericials about how great nurses are, job security and opportunities are above avg, etc.

whoopdedoo, many nurses fill under appreciated, but so do most people (that includes men) in all the other jobs out there that don't have the advantages nursing does.

Interesting and insightful comments, Dude.

What I have seen in nursing literature inspired by feminist theories is that there still exists a hierarchy of power between the male-dominated medical profession and the female-dominated nursing profession. Some studies indicate that this disparity in power exists even if the physician is female and the nurse is male---but I have also read studies that indicate that the power inequities are due more to money and status than to gender.

May I ask: when you were in nursing school or during your practice, have you encountered any forms of sexism by female nurses? I have heard of a professor who said she didn't appreciate having men in nursing because they "get all the good jobs". I've also heard of professors being biased against male students (which is wrong.) Sexism is sexism and it's wrong, whether it's aimed toward females or males. Thanks in advance for your comments.

[hearts895, RN BSN]

Interesting and insightful comments, Dude.

What I have seen in nursing literature inspired by feminist theories is that there still exists a hierarchy of power between the male-dominated medical profession and the female-dominated nursing profession. Some studies indicate that this disparity in power exists even if the physician is female and the nurse is male---but I have also read studies that indicate that the power inequities are due more to money and status than to gender.

May I ask: when you were in nursing school or during your practice, have you encountered any forms of sexism by female nurses? I have heard of a professor who said she didn't appreciate having men in nursing because they "get all the good jobs". I've also heard of professors being biased against male students (which is wrong.) Sexism is sexism and it's wrong, whether it's aimed toward females or males. Thanks in advance for your comments.

I personally believe that most of the power inequalities in the workplace tend to be based on money and status. Sadly, in some ways society doesn't seem to always adequately reward those who work hard in jobs with lower "status." For example, what about waste treatment plant workers or trash collectors or factory workers who make the very sterile instruments/items nurses use on a daily basis? The world would come to a stand still if those people stopped working so hard, but no one seems to acknowledge them very much. :( Well, except maybe on Dirty Jobs or Undercover Boss lol - but thats a tv show

[ItsTheDude]

May I ask: when you were in nursing school or during your practice, have you encountered any forms of sexism by female nurses? I have heard of a professor who said she didn't appreciate having men in nursing because they "get all the good jobs". I've also heard of professors being biased against male students (which is wrong.) Sexism is sexism and it's wrong, whether it's aimed toward females or males. Thanks in advance for your comments.

the sexism/discrimination i've encountered that has mattered to me has all been in my favor. it really doesn't matter to me (it's trivial) if someone thinks i'm gay, just because i'm a male nurse, but it does matter to me if i get the job/raise/promotion because i'm a male and the other people weren't. if you read other post by me, i'm pretty up front in my exp as a male that it is generally advantageous to be a male nurse.