Editor's Note
IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR REWARDS, TRY NURSING

Courtesy of Cascasde Pass, Inc.

The big, bold display in the center aisle of the bookstore announced a new series of books written for girls:  You Can Be a Woman Oceanographer, You Can Be a Woman Engineer, and a slew of other titles for professions including marine biologist, zoologist, Egyptologist, and paleontologist.  A sign told of an upcoming book signing by Judith Love Cohen, an Apollo System engineer, co-author of the books.

It's nice that girls are being told early on that they can access these exciting science careers.  But it's sad, too, that there's no book titled You Can Be a Nurse or a book for boys You Can Be a Male Nurse.  There's no book for respiratory therapist, or physical therapist, or social worker, or many other exciting careers in health care.

Sure, nursing and many of the other health careers have traditionally been accessible to women, and entering the profession doesn't represent the breaking of any real or imagined barrier.  But I worry that the direct encouragement of kids to break career barriers works against society's need for great people—men and women—to enter the healthcare fields.

I've never been an Egyptologist, but I'll pit any given shift as a nurse against a day in these so-called barrier-breaking fields.  I know most any health career would be just as demanding, exciting, challenging, and rewarding.  On the back of the book on careers in oceanography, it says, “This book will be an exciting inspiration to any girl interested in discovering adventure in science and life.”  I don't have anything against oceanography, but what career could promise more of an adventure in science and life than nursing?

What's the message our society is giving to girls and boys about their career decisions?  I think we're telling kids not to settle for the so-called humdrum careers but to go for the really great stuff, the titles that sound so exciting.

There's a shortage expected soon in health care, fueled by demographics, the aging of health providers and baby boomers, and a score of other factors.  I think we'll probably have enough oceanographers and zoologists in 15 years.  But whether we'll have the nurses and other healthcare providers we'll need—male and female—is still a question.

Barbara Bronson Gray, MN, RN
Editor in Chief

 

What do you think? Write me at nurse@nurseweek.com. Messages may be edited for clarity and appear online or in our print publications. Also, please include a daytime phone number and your postal address.