Why are most nurses female?

I remember that cervical cancer screening was organised and advertised as female doctors and nurses. Is that still the case? Maybe I am old-fashioned and out of touch with modern mainstream thinking, but it seems to me that if there really is care for a patient that she should be given a choice.

I worked in a Colposcopy clinic and their were two male consultants. They were both very knowledgeable and basically got on with the job but it was the female nurse s job to be the patient's advocate.
I also worked in other Gynaecology clinics and the majority of consultants were male. They were referred to as Mr because they were also surgeons as apposed to medical Doctor's. We had two female consultants referred to as Miss

The reason most nurses are female is because it’s so poorly paid compared to other degree qualified professions!
Iceni55 Sorry, but that doesn't make sense!
Needs re-phrasing!

Historically women have always been seen as the carers and the influence of Florence Nightingale meant like primary teachers the majority are women. Men have never been seen historically as carers, yet many do care for other relatives and have done for generations.

What is the male version of a Ward Sister called?

I trained to be a nurse in my forties in 1999. the majority were female in my class. There were a couple of males. One went on to do mental health and the other ended up in A&E and the last I heard he was a bed manager. My eldest brother was a nurse having previously sailed around the world 3 times in the merchant navy. He was found to have a natural aptitude, caring for minor injuries of the crew. He did his general training but swapped over to mental health because it paid more. He became a charge nurse with his own ward for 'His elderly ladies' All with dementia etc. The hospital was closed down and care homes took over that role.
So I expect it is to do with pay grades.
We may find more male nurse coming into the profession now it is a degree course. The trouble with this is a lot of these new degree nurses are more concerned with getting into management and anyone who has worked for the NHS will know there are far to many Chiefs and not enough Indians.
When I did my training I would say the majority of the class were mature students. We were paid a bursary while training which helped a lot as most of us were single working mothers. I could not afford to train these days as the nurse students have to repay their student fees.
I honestly think the health care assistants should be paid more too. they do a hell of a lot of unskilled work freeing up the nurses to do all the technical stuff and drug administration. However a lot of them also do limited wound care too, certainly in the community, kind of nursing on the cheap!

SueDonim

Granygranby my female friend applied to study medicine in the 60’s. She was turned down for a place because no one in her (very small) family had any medical connections. She’d have been an excellent doctor. She studied chemistry instead.

One of my daughters is a hospital doctor and she says she constantly has to explain to patients and families that she’s a doctor, not a nurse or physio or health care assistant. She sometimes sees a patient, explaining their condition and what treatments are available etc and then the patient ends the session by saying something like ‘I’ll decide what to do when I’ve spoken to the doctor as well.’

It’s like her knowledge and the information she can give are only valid if they come from a male voice.

I have seen some hospital doctors, male actually, wearing a green top with the word DOCTOR in large white letters on it.

Would it help your daughter got a top like that?

Another possibility would be for her to introduce herself with, for example, "Good morning, I'm Doctor [surname]".

A Quick Overview Of Nurses' Salaries In The UK In 2021 - The Royal College of Nursing broad, estimate the average salary for a Nurse is somewhere between £33,000 and £35,000.That takes into account the average amount of experience of a UK Nurse, and data collected on major job boards. It's not as badly paid as it used to, thank goodness, but they still deserve more.

DiscoDancer1975

Ps..as for midwives. Well, my personal opinion is they shouldallhave given birth themselves. So men shouldn’t be doing that. It is just my opinion though.

A bit of a strange view in my opinion too. Do you think cancer nurses should have had cancer if they are to care for this group of patients?

I am a retired nurse, started early 70's, and I have seen a big change in the number of men coming into the profession, (there were only 2 in our intake of 72!), however it still remains low at about 10%. Part of the reason I think is that it's not seen as "glamorous " as medicine. It's hard work, low paid, and perceptions persist that it is a mainly female profession. Nursing is now a degree course ( it wasn't when I trained) but the monetary value we place on nursing, compared with other graduates remains very low. Today's nurses have taken over many of the traditional tasks of doctors, such as taking blood, endoscopy, and even prescribing certain medicines, but their salaries are still a fraction of what they earn. We are unfortunately heading for a crisis in nursing as the numbers applying are falling, and due to brexit we can now no longer rely on the many international staff who have propped up the health service for years.

grannygranby

When I was at school in the sixties there were expectations that I would become a nurse as I loved medicine. I opted to be a technician at medical research council instead as I realised nursing was largely servicing people. The MRC sent me on day release to do A level zoology. I was the only girl. The boys, from local grammars ( there were dissections that schools didn’t have facilities for) of very mixed abilities and I am being polite here, were all going to be doctors. No one had ever said I could be a doctor. That’s when I became a feminist. It really wasn’t that long ago.

I was at school in the sixties and a girl who was in the same year group as me got a place at medical school and became a doctor.

Though at the same school, there was a no-choice gender split, boys did woodwork and girls did domestic science.

It would have been good for everybody to do both.

Fair enough and quite right for a gender split for gym classes and sports, but why for woodwork and domestic science?

Little woman in the kitchen with the stove while hubby is in the shed making cupboards?

NotSpaghetti

I think it's basically MONEY and STATUS.

The best NHS midwife my daughter had was a male one.

And "midwife", comes from with woman, ElderlyPerson.

Thank you.

So the reference to a woman in midwife is ablative rather than nominative, that is, the 'wife' in 'midwife' is not a reference to the person who has the job role, but a reference to the person that the person in the job role assists.

www.lexico.com/definition/midwife

www.lexico.com/definition/mid

www.lexico.com/definition/amid

Both myself and hubby are retired nurses of over thirty years, I would say one of the biggest reasons is the pay and also if you are a family man you can’t always afford to go to Uni as some people forget the minimum training you do is three years and you do many more years of training after that.

Men make, on the whole, same as women, fantastic nurses. Different mind set, worked with one, he used to have the whole ward laughing, but was very skilled, caring and compassionate. A couple started working as HCAs and went on to complete their Nurse training. As for pay, starting at Band 5 newly qualified is over 24,000, up to over 30,000 .Obviously as you progress higher can be up to nearly 38,000 as band6. Also More for w/e pay and Night shifts. 6 weeks paid holiday, up to six months fully paid if off sick, reducing if longer. Just thought some might be interested in this as it headlines at present.

I looked up the pay scale for nurses in the uk and I found it amazingly low compared with Australian rates. Now I know why so many British nurses come here. Our basic salary is around $79,000. They really are underpaid in the UK.

Men bring a different mindset, 15 years ago I need a virginal ultrasound as part of other scans and things. A very caring lad looked after me but when the virginal scan came up he had to hand over to female plus leave the room asked why to be told a male inserting a object into a female could be considered assault, a month later friends daughter had male midwife care for her in a very difficult birth of same rules had been applied her baby would not have survived.

Iceni55

It’s definitely to do with pay. The reason most nurses are female is because it’s so poorly paid compared to other degree qualified professions!

That’s not actually true is it, unless you’re using your degree to go into business or the city….primary school teachers, research assistants, and many other degree level roles start on pretty low salaries too

After working as a qualified nurse for over 40 years I've seen alot of changes to nursing but not to the pay. There has been a slow increase to males entering the profession and alot of it is due to pay and conditions. It is hard work and you rarely and I do mean rarely get off duty on time. I worked as a Sister and I admit I was first to arrive in work, earlier than shift began and always left after all, nearly always after shift end. It's hard both mentally and physically. I have a husband that works for NHS , but not in caring and he too works more hours than he gets paid for. Alot of men are still the main bread earners, regardless of hours worked, so why should they work for less money that won't cover the household bills. Nursing is also 24 hours so alot of unsocial hours to be covered.

Today 11:34 Severnsider

The original 'nurses' were whet nurses, paid to feed new-born babies when the mothers couldn't or wouldn't suckle them.

Well, men couldn't do that job, could they!

Many carried on after the child was weaned and became their 'nurse'.

Great in Victorian times ! I’d like to hope we’ve moved on somewhat now….to be honest I know of no professions which any gender would be less suitable than any other….there is an enormous drive to recruit women into science, technology and construction and men into teaching and I think this is how it should be !!!! My children were fortunate enough to attend a primary school with a nursery attached with a male nursery nurse and almost equal male/female teachers and a male school cook !!!

It’s definitely to do with pay. The reason most nurses are female is because it’s so poorly paid compared to other degree qualified professions!

Granygranby my female friend applied to study medicine in the 60’s. She was turned down for a place because no one in her (very small) family had any medical connections. She’d have been an excellent doctor. She studied chemistry instead.

One of my daughters is a hospital doctor and she says she constantly has to explain to patients and families that she’s a doctor, not a nurse or physio or health care assistant. She sometimes sees a patient, explaining their condition and what treatments are available etc and then the patient ends the session by saying something like ‘I’ll decide what to do when I’ve spoken to the doctor as well.’

It’s like her knowledge and the information she can give are only valid if they come from a male voice.

DiscoDancer1975

Ps..as for midwives. Well, my personal opinion is they should all have given birth themselves. So men shouldn’t be doing that. It is just my opinion though.

Odd response to be honest ! I have four children, both midwives who attended throughout my pregnancies and at the actual births were female and childless and no intention of having their own babies and were fabulous !

Because from the year dot, it has really only been promoted as a vocation for women and in the past, the main reason males were employed in nursing was in the mental health sector.
With so many mixed wards it is important that both male and female nurses are available and I think that more men are choosing nursing as a career.
Each time I have been treated by a male nurse I have been quite unwell - the first time, was after a miscarriage when I was put onto a general ward and the second time was when I was suffering from a bleeding ulcer.
Quite frankly, both times I was past all caring about what parts of my body was being seen by a strange male!

one could ask why are most GPs female too these days and only working two days a week so no continuity. Great career for women but not so good for patients !

Same reason as most primary school teachers and nursery nurses and nursery workers are female - tradition and sexism towards both genders - these professionals were seen as “nurturing” and females more suited ! On the same way as once upon a time all secretaries were female as considered a “lesser” job and more suited to us poor dim females !!

The original 'nurses' were whet nurses, paid to feed new-born babies when the mothers couldn't or wouldn't suckle them.

Well, men couldn't do that job, could they!

Many carried on after the child was weaned and became their 'nurse'.

When I was at school in the sixties there were expectations that I would become a nurse as I loved medicine. I opted to be a technician at medical research council instead as I realised nursing was largely servicing people. The MRC sent me on day release to do A level zoology. I was the only girl. The boys, from local grammars ( there were dissections that schools didn’t have facilities for) of very mixed abilities and I am being polite here, were all going to be doctors. No one had ever said I could be a doctor. That’s when I became a feminist. It really wasn’t that long ago.