8 ms·

I know a few male nurses, and it's still a profession where men are somewhat looked down upon. There's nothing about nursing that is gender-specific (except th

I know a few male nurses, and it's still a profession where men are somewhat looked down upon. There's nothing about nursing that is gender-specific (except that being large & strong is an asset at times). But for some reason, a male nurse is seen as someone who wasn't good enough to be a doctor.

908B64B197 5y ago
> a male nurse is seen as someone who wasn't good enough to be a doctor. With advanced degrees becoming more and more common, it's also more and more likely the nurse seeing you has the same number of years of schooling as the doctor.
CodeGlitch 5y ago
In the UK, experienced NHS nurses can be better than doctors. I don't think anyone looks down on nurses in the UK if they have spent anytime in hospital.
- mywittyname 5y ago
  I'm coming from a USA perspective. It's great to hear that this non-sense is no prevalent everywhere.
fsckboy 5y ago
>There's nothing about nursing that is gender-specific There is everything about nursing that is gender specific. Men are interested in things, women are interested in people https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19883140/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19883140/
- mywittyname 5y ago
  So do you think other medical professions are also gender specific and should be heavily weighted towards women? Because they aren't. Physicians skew male, yet, physicians deal with people! Why is it different when a woman is taking vitals and walking through a diagnostic checklist than when a man is doing it? Is there something special about being a women that makes the better at drawing blood or placing IVs?
  - liminvorous 5y ago
    Scott Alexander breaks down gender ratios of doctors in different medical specialties in part IV [here](https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/07/contra-grant-on-exaggerated-differences/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/07/contra-grant-on-exagge...) Basically finding that specialities with less patient contact have a higher proportion of male doctors. Though I suspect there probably is more going on with nursing than differences in interest in people.
  - Jensson 5y ago
    > Physicians skew male They don't, physicians are close to gender parity. What you see is that Physicians used to skew male a long time ago, but that isn't the case any more in younger generations. And Physicians isn't about people, Physicians is about seeing people as things you can fix, so it tickles both the "people" and the "thing" aspects at the same time, which would explain why gender ratio is about equal. If you remove the "things" aspect from physicians you are left with nurse, which skews extremely female.
  - fsckboy 5y ago
    https://www.thejournal.ie/gender-equality-countries-stem-girls-3848156-Feb2018/ https://www.thejournal.ie/gender-equality-countries-stem-gir... "Countries with greater gender equality see a smaller proportion of women taking degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), a new study has found. Dubbed the “gender equality paradox”, the research found that countries such as Albania and Algeria have a greater percentage of women amongst their STEM graduates than countries lauded for their high levels of gender equality, such as Finland, Norway and Sweden. The researchers, from Leeds Beckett University and the University of Missouri, believe this might be because countries with less gender equality often have little welfare support, making the choice of a relatively high-paid STEM career more attractive."
tomp 5y ago
There might be similar non-doctor medical jobs that appeal more to men's interests & strengths (things, not people). Radiology technician comes to mind (though I don't know the gender ratio).

908B64B197 5y ago

> a male nurse is seen as someone who wasn't good enough to be a doctor. With advanced degrees becoming more and more common, it's also more and more likely the nurse seeing you has the same number of years of schooling as the doctor.

CodeGlitch 5y ago

In the UK, experienced NHS nurses can be better than doctors. I don't think anyone looks down on nurses in the UK if they have spent anytime in hospital.

mywittyname 5y ago
I'm coming from a USA perspective. It's great to hear that this non-sense is no prevalent everywhere.

fsckboy 5y ago

>There's nothing about nursing that is gender-specific There is everything about nursing that is gender specific. Men are interested in things, women are interested in people https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19883140/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19883140/

mywittyname 5y ago
So do you think other medical professions are also gender specific and should be heavily weighted towards women? Because they aren't. Physicians skew male, yet, physicians deal with people! Why is it different when a woman is taking vitals and walking through a diagnostic checklist than when a man is doing it? Is there something special about being a women that makes the better at drawing blood or placing IVs?
- liminvorous 5y ago
  Scott Alexander breaks down gender ratios of doctors in different medical specialties in part IV [here](https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/07/contra-grant-on-exaggerated-differences/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/07/contra-grant-on-exagge...) Basically finding that specialities with less patient contact have a higher proportion of male doctors. Though I suspect there probably is more going on with nursing than differences in interest in people.
- Jensson 5y ago
  > Physicians skew male They don't, physicians are close to gender parity. What you see is that Physicians used to skew male a long time ago, but that isn't the case any more in younger generations. And Physicians isn't about people, Physicians is about seeing people as things you can fix, so it tickles both the "people" and the "thing" aspects at the same time, which would explain why gender ratio is about equal. If you remove the "things" aspect from physicians you are left with nurse, which skews extremely female.
- fsckboy 5y ago
  https://www.thejournal.ie/gender-equality-countries-stem-girls-3848156-Feb2018/ https://www.thejournal.ie/gender-equality-countries-stem-gir... "Countries with greater gender equality see a smaller proportion of women taking degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), a new study has found. Dubbed the “gender equality paradox”, the research found that countries such as Albania and Algeria have a greater percentage of women amongst their STEM graduates than countries lauded for their high levels of gender equality, such as Finland, Norway and Sweden. The researchers, from Leeds Beckett University and the University of Missouri, believe this might be because countries with less gender equality often have little welfare support, making the choice of a relatively high-paid STEM career more attractive."

tomp 5y ago

There might be similar non-doctor medical jobs that appeal more to men's interests & strengths (things, not people). Radiology technician comes to mind (though I don't know the gender ratio).