Perceptions of Male Nurses about Nursing Profession

Nursing is feminized profession by its nature, and traditional development of its concept of caring to sick for centuries. Nursing has been stereotyped as a female dominated profession since the time of Florence Nightingale, worldwide [1,2]. Before the Crimean war, men had the responsibility to provide basic care to the wounded. However, from that war to the present, nursing profession began to be dominated by female [3]. Although the evolution of men into nursing profession has been increased over the past two decades, but still men constitute a small number of the nursing population. It is also noticed that women are moving into previously male dominated professions, such as medicine, law, and business, due to support provided to them to enter in men dominated professions. However, the movement of males into nursing profession is slow because of lack of attention and support given to them, to enter into female dominated profession [4]. Nursing is a profession established by a woman that supports the stereotypical feminine image with qualities of nurturing, and caring, in contrast to male characteristics of power, aggression, and authority [3]. Now the question is that, what happened when men enter in nursing profession? Choosing nursing as a career for men is likely to be colored by practical concerns, such as hand some salary, job security, chances of promotion, and family support [4]. Furthermore, Anthony argued that caring is the crucial element of nursing and men should demonstrate caring attitudes, as they are socialized to lack of visible expression of emotions as compared to women, who display caring behaviors and open expression of emotions. In a female dominant profession, being a male faces many problems, however, studies have shown significance advantages for men in nursing profession, because men have potentials of high tech specialties in nursing, such as intensive care, operation abilities, and physical strength, which increase the demand of male nurses in this profession [5].