Ridiculous quote about nurses featured in a sociology book..

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hello everyone,

I am already out of school for quite a bit now, but my best friend has recently returned to a community college and is taking her prereqs to become a teacher. She was studying for her upcoming sociology 101 test, and she pointed out a paragraph that mentions nurses that I found extremely offensive. It says:

"Women are still concentrated in low-pay, low-prestige jobs with few benefits and opportunities for advancement, such as secretaries, food service workers, daycare providers, entry-level retail sales, nurses, and maids/housekeepers."

Am I crazy, or is this offensive to anyone else? I mean absolutely no disrespect to those in the other fields that were mentioned, but I don't see how nursing fits into that category. I don't consider myself particularly sensitive to things like this, and I have heard the generic "You're so smart, why didn't you just become a doctor?" line from people, but low-income and low-prestige?! Few benefits and opportunities for advancement?!

This really blew my mind!!

So am I being overly sensitive, or is that a little out of line?

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Really out of line! You don't need a good and extremely difficult education to become a maid. But I guess retail and saving lives are the same thing ;)

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It's funny you mentioned this because my sociology book had something similar - but more along the lines of "nursing is predominantly female and females earn less than their male counterparts' - which is probably true in the grand scheme of things. I definitely wouldn't categorize nursing as "low-pay, low-prestige, with few benefits and opportunities for advancement". I think it's quite the opposite. I don't know how "prestigious" it is, but then again, nursing is generally considered to be a "noble" profession (saving lives).

I wouldn't say I'm offended, but I don't think you're being overly sensitive. Ignorance is annoying! The quote has me wondering if the book is an older edition? The older folks in my family are still totally befuddled that there is a bachelor's degree in nursing. When I said I was going back to school to be a nurse, they thought I would spend 6 months at a trade school. There are a LOT of people out there that have no idea what an RN actually knows, does, or earns.

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Everyone that I talk to has nothing but respect for nurses. (And I make more money that other people my age.)

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

I have never read in my sociology a quote like that....maybe it was written and edited by a person that has NO idea what the nursing profession entails...most people, heck even some nurses have not been up to date on the advances and what we do. :blink:

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

When was this book published? 1950?

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Everyone that I talk to has nothing but respect for nurses. (And I make more money that other people my age.)

Same here, which is the reason I was so bothered by this ridiculous quote in the book. You would figure people would want to know what they were talking about before publishing it in a textbook and teaching it to people as if it were fact.

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When was this book published? 1950?

One would think so, right? Sadly, this was published in 2010.

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One would think so, right? Sadly, this was published in 2010.

Ok, now this bothers me a lot more! If I had the book in front of me right now, I'd probably write a letter to the publisher. I'm not saying it needs to be blown out of proportion, but it is a TEXTBOOK written 3 years ago. Uggh.

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Lol whaaaat. So stupuid I can't take offense. Hmm cafeteria lady and nurse...very similar wage and education level requirement. Psych. Everyone I knoe looks pretty highly at nurses as well. Whoever wrote that is a dumb dumb : )

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Compare nurse to doctor salaries....nurse to management salaries.....nurse to garbage worker salaries! I graduated from nursing school almost 10 years ago. At the same time, my then husband started a new job as a garbage truck driver for the city. He made 50 cents more an hour than me, plus his benefits were AWESOME! His medical insurance, for the entire family was covered, with no out of pocket expense to him!!!!!!!!!!! In the ensuing years, his wages have increased at a higher rate than mine, and the only change is that now he has to pay $80 a month, his contribution, for medical insurance for himself and our 2 children. WAAAAAAAH????? The main difference, that I can see, is the union, Teamsters. If nurses belonged to the Teamsters, we'd have substantial pensions, better medical insurance, better representation, better working conditions, and better pay. So nurses have the reputation, but who makes the $$$$$? Don't kid yourselves, firefighters, who don't even need a college education to become a firefighter, work less and make more and have better pensions. Dangerous job? You betcha, so is nursing. Or have you never worn a

self-contained respirator & isolation getup? Or been physically or verbally assaulted by a patient? Or hurt your back/shoulder/wrist caring for patients?

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Re post by elmKnighton - how true!!!! Truck drivers cannot drive more than 10 hours (federal thing). No mandated shifts for them!. And they have union regs re weight lifting restrictions. If it's heavy, it sits there!!!

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Maybe the students with the sociology books can communicate with the publisher/author re the comment as a nursing issues/empowerment project.

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