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EDITOR'S
NOTE |
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April
19, 1999
When it comes to the Ms. Foundation for Women’s annual "Take Our Daughters To Work" day—April 22—health care is upside down. For those of us working in health care, the real challenge is getting more men into nursing. We haven’t made a lot of progress on this front, and part of the problem may be our society’s sad but deeply embedded perception that nursing is really, in the end, women’s work. The Ms. Foundation’s approach to the event doesn’t help much in health care, either. They’re focusing on breaking down barriers for women, not on creating a society where gender doesn’t matter. The promotional material says, "Imagine a day when girls are working absolutely everywhere—in board rooms, city halls, union halls, and concert halls." I guess "hospital halls" just wouldn’t have had the same ring. But I’d kick what they’re saying up a notch: Imagine a day when men and women are working side by side in equal numbers as nurses, PTs, administrators, OTs, RTs, and physicians. When people don’t think of women when they hear the word nurse. Why haven’t the health professions that are dominated by women turned the tables on this one and pushed for their ranks to invite their sons to work, to see the ICU and surgery and make home health visits with them? Why aren’t we inviting our sons to watch the occupational therapist show stroke victims how to dress themselves and the respiratory therapist teach asthma patients to manage their conditions? I’ve talked to others in health care about why we aren’t working harder to bring men into the fold, especially into nursing, the most female dominated of all the professions. And some think that for many women, there’s a benefit to the female dominance. Nursing is one field where for the most part women do call the shots, run the schools, lead the research, manage the professional organizations—and there’s little direct competition with men. Remember when the American Association of University Women started pushing for girls to go to single-sex schools? It’s kind of the same thinking: Rise up in a woman’s world. But if we truly believe in the wide-reaching benefits of diversity, then we need to ensure that nursing recruits men in equal numbers to women. So let’s start now, and turn the Ms. Foundation’s day into health care's unique version of the event. Let’s take our sons and daughters to work … and show them what nursing can offer. For girls. And yes, for boys. Barbara
Bronson Gray, MN, RN |
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