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I never heard those statements until I started telling people that I planned on going into nursing. Maybe those people are just making small talk and don't really believe the statements. They may want to be encouraging to the man with whom they are talking. They may just be repeating or actually believe the flawed reasoning that leads people to think that the makeup of any profession should perfectly match the makeup of the general population.

This. Saying that a particular group of people is needed to do a job, where that group's qualifications are based on anything other than education and experience, is fomenting inequality and prejudice. If you don't understand why this is, then you should read the book, "Affirmative Action Around The World: An Empirical Study" by Thomas Sowell. I for one want to make it in this profession on my own, and I don't want anyone to be able to say that I was given preferential treatment due to my gender. If you want to encourage other men to become nurses, go right ahead; I think that is a good thing. However, saying that it "would be nice" to have more men in nursing is not the same as them being needed.

@StudentManNuse I wouldn't worry too much at this point, with you still being a CNA I would think that you would have more of the "grunt" work. That being said, this issue is something that scares me. When I decided to go back to school to become a nurse; I was surprised by people's reactions. I kept getting comments like, "good we need more male nurses," and "oh, you'll have an advantage for getting promoted." For the former comment, I don't see why we need more male nurses. Is there some magical quality that men have for nursing that women don't? If they are referring to the ability to pick up heavier things, it's a waste of money to have them trained as an RN/LPN. Why not just hire some goons who can take an RN's direction for minimum wage? For the latter comment. I really don't want an advantage. I want to be treated appropriately for the amount of effort and skill that I put into nursing. It is also kind of scary, that I could succeed all on my own and people would say it was just because I was a guy. A male nurse was promoted to charge nurse where my wife worked, and the rumors started about him where that it was only because he was a man. I don't know if that was true or not, but I would hate to think that someone could think that about me at some point. Some articles that may be of interest. This is Dr. Stuart McGill being interviewed about back injuries. T NATION | An Interview with Dr. Stuart McGill, Part I Here is study on grip and leg extension strength in men and women. You will notice that there is plenty of overlap in the numbers, although of course men tend to be on the higher end overall. Grip strength and lower limb extension power in 19-... [bMJ Open. 2011] - PubMed - NCBI Here is a study on lower body strength. It's interesting that individual muscles respond significantly different in men and women. Comparison of lower body specific resistan... [Res Q Exerc Sport. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI Here is a study on gender differences in overall strength. The men are found to be hugely stronger than the women, but if you assume that the average male is about 25% larger than the average female. It works out that men are 33% stronger in the upper body, but only 9% stronger in the lower body! Gender differences in stren... [Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1993] - PubMed - NCBI