NYT Article: Men don't want to be nurses, and their wives agree

[Neuronurse1114]

Does anyone else think this is article by Susan Chira is complete BS?

Men Don’t Want to Be Nurses. Their Wives Agree. - The New York Times

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

I don't think it's complete BS. I think there is still a large segment of the population who views nursing as a pink collar (aka, women's) profession. I do think that trying to push more people into nursing isn't wise- so many areas already see new grads struggling to find the first job. Adding more debt for a profession that many think of as recession-proof and a sure thing can be misleading if one plans to work in an area already saturated.

[labrat2nurse]

I agree with the premise of the article that there are people both inside and outside the profession that believe that nursing is a "women's job." Fortunately, I find these people within the profession to be rare, and that the important deciders in the profession demiss this as silly.

An important point in the article is that unemployed men in manufacturing are not transitioning to healthcare where this is a demand. But how much of this is attitude vs inertia? I began nursing school when I was 50, transitioning from a white collar job where I felt my career oppourtunities had plateaued. It was hard; others may not have the drive to do this regardless of attitudes.

[Floyd Nightingale]

Yes, men would rather be unemployed than embarrass themselves by working in health care and their wives don't want any girly-men at home. It's all in the nation's paper of record.

Men Don’t Want to Be Nurses. Their Wives Agree. - The New York Times

I occasionally meet somebody who can't wrap their head around the idea of men in nursing. By occasionally I mean every three or four years, ...and then there's Susan Chira for the Neanderthal, er I mean New York Times. Really Susan? I make as much as $165K/yr; not as a CRNA or NP or other advanced practice specialty, just an hourly drone in the ER who doesn't mind working the hours and is somewhat adept at taking advantage of many incentives. You wouldn't want your man doing that while holding a highly respected title and even doing some good once in a while? OK, got it.

I just can't believe this could've been written at any time in the last fifty years.

And you gotta love the concluding paragraph:

quote/ Pink-collar jobs are crap jobs for anyone,” said Joan C. Williams, professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law. We need to reinvent pink-collar jobs so men will take them and won't be unhappy — or women, either.” /quote

Does this distinguished professor of law know that graduates from anything less than a top ten school are waiting tables and struggling to pick up paralegal work?

One might hope that sexism is dead or dying, and to see this from a source as respected as the NY Times is mind blowing.

They talk about moving unemployed blue collar workers into nursing and other allied health careers. There was talk about doing this many years ago re; the contracting auto industry here. I never met anybody who took advantage of that, and I question how many could actually make it through the training. And I'm supposed to be embarrassed to be in nursing?

And they talk about how men can be useful at lifting patients. I'm sorry, Susan, but how do you manage to land any kind of job in these times with that kind of thinking?

I've been going through the related comments, some 560 before they closed it, and I'm just getting started but so far everybody thinks this article is way off.

Okay, I wanted to stop typing and risking a TLDR but this forum wants a minimum 600 words. I'll fill this up with random comments from the article:

Jacksonian Democrat

Seattle 13 hours ago I have a friend, a guy, who is a retired nurse anesthetist, and US Army trained. You want to be a great bread winner guys, try this field. He doesn't care if people call him a sissy. These professionals typically earn about 200K per year. Let's see if your wife discourages that.

GLC

USA 13 hours ago Men Don't Want to Be Nurses.

Since when? In 1968 there were eleven male nurses at the 22nd Surgical Hospital in Phu Bai. Three were anesthetists, one was an OR nurse (he had been 101st Airborne, then became a nurse), one was the DON, and the others worked in triage.

Their Wives Agree.

Really. The gas passers at the local hospital in my flyover village are anesthetists. They are married. To each other. With children.

These type of sexist articles continue to tarnish the "brand" of The New York Times. The disclaimer that this is an Op-Ed piece and not a real piece of jurinalism is lame. When you quote pointy heads from academia, you lose your free pass.

Truth up, Times.

Liz McDougall

Calgary, Canada 13 hours ago I say "suck it up buttercup." Nursing Is a fine and noble profession - great education, decent pay, in a variety of work settings. I was a Registered Nurse for 37 years and saw more men entering nursing as the years went by. They make excellent nurses. If the jobs are in health care, why not get the education and try it out. You might just like it.

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[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Merged two threads on same article...

[offlabel]

Very few CRNAs consider themselves nurses.

[Nalon1 RN/EMT-P, BSN, RN]

Very few CRNAs consider themselves nurses.

Very few male Advanced Practice Nurses do.

I know many male Nurse Practicioners that refuse to acknowledge the "Nurse" part of their title, they call themselves a provider. These are usually those that took the NP route instead of PA route, never having worked as a nurse or doing the bare minimum to get into NP school.

[pmabraham, BSN, RN]

Don't agree. My wife appreciates that I'm an RN, and I'm glad I took on the journey. It's fake news like this that may push some men thinking about getting into nursing and then avoiding it.

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

I didn't see that much research went into this. I'm wondering where all of these nursing jobs are that are sitting open. I also never encountered any grief from my classmates, and I graduated over 20 years ago.

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

What a load. Of. Crap. Maybe the author is speaking about the men who are not nurses. I guess the men who don't want to be nurses, aren't. Just like the men who don't want to be lumberjacks, aren't. Hmmmmmm... brilliant! Just for the record, I am and know plenty of men who do want to be nurses.

[labordude, BSN, RN]

I disagree a little with the delivery, but not the overall premise. I see that a major contributor to this mindset is the lack of understanding about what nurses actually do in their day-to-day roles. There still is to some extent the gender role vs professional role dichotomy and I have met far too many nurses who will directly verbalize that although they welcome their male counterparts, they should remain in certain specialties. Within this nursing forum, we clearly have a more enlightened and educated group of people who have internally moved beyond caring what others think and perceive of them which is fantastic. It still doesn't change the fact that nursing as a profession does not yet rate highly on many high schoolers and young men's career yet despite having relative stability, solid wages, and the ability to work in many locations and areas of specialization. There still exists a cultural bias both external to the profession and internal.

That being said, I'm proud to call myself a nurse. I will never give up my license and continue to work the occasional shift even though my full-time role is no longer clinical. My experiences as a nurse have opened more doors for me than I ever imagined. I fought through the crap and discrimination to get into a the 'woman's world' of OB nursing and thrived there. Growing up, my high school guidance counselor tried to talk me out of nursing because "don't you want to be a doctor?" We, as a professional still have a ways to go just as we as a society and culture have a ways to go before the perception of jobs are no longer linked to genders

[FDBMath, ADN, RN]

I am switching jobs from teaching to nursing (beginning nursing school in August). My wife is very happy and excited for me to start the career. I agree that those who are predisposed or interested in nursing and not put-off by the idea that it is for women only are already in or pursuing that career. I will say people are starting to change the idea about this. It has been my experience that all of the people who I have encountered (relative strangers and friends) have all been very positive and supportive.