Examining Gender Perceptions: Is Nursing Truly a Woman's Profession?

This essay explores the long-standing perception of nursing as a female-dominated profession, examining the advantages and disadvantages of both female and male nurses. It delves into cultural influences, patient preferences, and stereotypical traits associated with each gender. The analysis considers aspects such as communication skills, emotional intelligence, physical endurance, problem-solving abilities, and leadership qualities. While acknowledging the increasing presence and valuable contributions of male nurses, the essay argues that the inherent qualities and culturally reinforced roles of women make them better suited for nursing, particularly in providing tender care, emotional understanding, and effective interpersonal communication. The essay concludes that a combination of male and female qualities can lead to improved patient care, but ultimately, nursing remains predominantly a woman's job due to societal expectations and the nurturing characteristics traditionally associated with women.

Running head: NURSING IS A WOMAN’S JOB 1
NURSING IS A WOMAN’S JOB
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Introduction
Nursing is one of the oldest professions, and since it was started, it is largely a female
dominated field, but that is currently changing as more male nurses join the profession. Nursing
mainly deals with taking care of patients in and out of the hospital setting, and women are
majorly preferred to their male counterparts for a long time now. This essay will look at the

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advantages and disadvantages related to having both female and male nurses and compare them
to see who make good nurses. Patients have a preference on who they would like to take care of
them, and therefore, it is important to consider their views in this essay to make an informed
decision on this particular issue. Several factors influence this topic, such as culture, and they
have to be explored well and look into how they impact this topic.
Side A
Nursing for a long time has been seen as an extension of the domestic roles of women
because of their attributes, such as humbleness, empathy, and self-sacrificing. To take care of
people at their vulnerable moments requires these qualities to provide the best care for them.
Some cultures consider nursing as a woman’s job, therefore, making it a gender-specific job
because of the stereotypical women traits such as caring, submission, and dependence. Social
role theory argues that division of labor according to gender leads to stereotyping in occupations,
which might have led to the nursing profession being a female dominated field because women
are considered to be tender and gentle (Berkery, 2017). Women are good communicators and
listeners which are greatly needed when taking care of a patient. They can talk and listen to
patients, which is essential to getting vital information that is useful in the treatment of patients.
Emotionally connecting with patients while maintaining a professional relationship intact is
something female nurses do better compared to their male counterparts. Understanding the
emotional needs of a patient enables female nurses to display empathy, which is at the core of
their treatment and care, which is best displayed by female nurses who almost naturally
emotional beings. Female nurses are more flexible in terms of their responsibilities and therefore,
are readily available to take care of their patients. Female nurses display great interpersonal
skills, which enable them to act as a link between patients and their doctors. Doctors depend on

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nurses to keep them updated on how the patients are doing, and the patients need nurses who are
friendly and available to take care of their changing needs. Female nurses are well organized,
which is an essential trait when taking care of patients to achieve the set objectives in treating the
patient. They can keep up with the patients’ medication schedules and on time, and achieve the
medication time plan; they have to be highly organized.
Side B
Male nurses are recently increasing in large numbers in the nursing profession, and they
are being considered to female nurses because of the quality care and satisfaction they offer
patients (Yi& Keogh, 2016). Male nurses make less medical related errors due to their trait of
doing one thing at a time which minimizes the mistakes are made when offering care to patients.
Males are generally considered to be hardworking, which is a good quality for a nurse because it
means they put in more effort and time to take care of patients problems. Hard working nurses
maintain integrity at work, and this exudes trust in them by patients as they feel their needs will
be handled well. Male nurses show physical endurance, which is vital for a nurse to withstand
long working hours, and the physical activities done by nurses. Male nurses easily perform tasks
such as carrying a patient from one bed to another bed or lifting them from the floor to a
stretcher. Male nurses are emotionally stable with regard to emotional moments faced at work.
Nursing is a stressful job that requires one to be stable emotionally to avoid getting personal
when difficult moments are encountered, such as dealing with the death of a patient. Male nurses
display great problem-solving skills, which is fundamental to patient treatment and care.
Problems solving skills are integral in the nursing profession to deal with patient-related
problems before they occur or after they arise to ensure that the patient feel they are in a safe
environment. Male nurses quickly respond to patient’s needs, especially during emergency

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situations that arise from patients such as trauma. Quickly responding to emergency situations
ensures that patients are taken care of immediately to avoid injuries and to deliver medical
interventions. Many cultures define a man to be naturally a leader and this attribute make male
nurses well positioned to be nurses. A good nurse should display good leadership both in their
personal life and in their jobs. Taking care of patients requires teamwork and a nurse is at the
center of it linking the physician and the patient and as a good leader, the nurse ensures that
everything works according to the plan.
Side C
Critically reviewing the information above and analyzing, it is evident that nursing is a
woman’s job. The qualities attributed to women nurses supersede those of male nurses meaning
that women are better suited to be nurses than men. Taking care of patients requires tender care
and warmth, which are displayed and well executed by women nurses compared to male nurses.
Patients need to feel emotionally understood, which is an attribute of female nurses, and this
helps them develop good professional relationships with patients leading to quality care for the
patient. Women are culturally supported to be nurses than males because nursing is seen as a
profession that links to domestic work related to women; therefore, best suited than males to take
care of patients. Interpersonal skills are important in patients’ care as the nurse needs to link up
the doctor and the patient, and this requires the nurse to play an insubordinate role to the doctor.
Women nurses’ best play the role of insubordination in comparison to male nurses who are best
quitted to leadership roles. Skills such as leadership can impact people through training, meaning
that even though female nurses may not be naturally born leaders, this attribute can be taught to
them. Physical endurance is essential in nursing to cope with the physical activities in nursing,
and women nurses are less suited in this quality compared to male nurses; therefore, portraying a

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limitation to female nurses. Multitasking is attributed to women, and this may lead to many
medical related errors, which is not good in patients care, and this shows another disadvantage of
women nurses. Many positive than negative qualities are displayed by female nurses compared
to male nurses showing that nursing is a woman’s job.
Conclusion
Male and women nurses both contribute majorly to the nursing profession by use of their
different qualities. The limitations found in both sides can be addressed and result in better-
qualified male and female nurses despite their inadequacies. Combination of both male and
female qualities attributed to nursing can bring about a nursing profession that is best fit to offer
quality care to patients in their treatment. Women are better qualified to be nurses because of
their qualities, such as good communication skills and culturally, they are supported to be nurses
in terms of their gender roles. It is hard for males to be nurses due to masculinity and gender
question posed to them by society, and therefore, women who are regarded as caring individuals
are preferred to males in nursing. Nursing is, therefore, a woman’s job according to the
information provided.

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References
Berkery, E. C. (2017). Of seats, stereotypes and structures: empirical contributions on women in the workplace
from a gender-organisation-systems perspective.
Yi, M., & Keogh, B. (2016). What motivates men to choose nursing as a profession? A systematic review of
qualitative studies. Contemporary nurse, 52(1), 95-105.