Tash Mahnokaren
Staff Writer
Gender-based occupations are increasingly becoming a phenomenon of the past as men and women transcend the gender occupational divide.
The wage gap, however, remains a concern in gender-based occupations, even for men in female dominated fields.
The San Jose Mercury News included secretaries, kindergarten teachers, speech language pathologists and nurses in 2007 in their list of the “ten most female occupations.”
Males are increasingly being encouraged to join the nursing field because of the promising wages and marketability of the occupation, even in a declining economy.
At Idaho State University, Thomas Landon, Nursing student and President of the Male Nursing Association, created the club to raise awareness for males in the nursing field and highlight the opportunities available to them.
Landon said the club doesn’t aim to exclude women but rather integrate men into a predominantly female workforce.
Landon, who studies with a group of two other males, said that his experience with the ISU nursing program has been promising.
“It didn’t discourage me before to go into nursing,” said Landon. “When I was in nursing it opened my eyes to what was gong on and that this doesn’t have to be a female dominated profession.”
Landon expresses that men usually don’t join the field because of the attached stigma of nursing being confined to females.
Still fairly new, the club hopes to hold fundraisers in the future that might include organizing men’s health awareness events amongst other male involvement activities.
Landon expressed that the nursing department also just recently welcomed a male professor. “It is nice just to know that there are career opportunities and there are men in the field,” said Landon.
Although males are joining the nursing field in greater numbers, “it is still a really low statistic,” said Landon who hopes to see a balanced ratio of men and women in the program at ISU and the field.
Across the United States there are various causes dedicated to raising awareness for men in the nursing field and encouraging them to consider the employment opportunities available within.
Men who join the nursing field at times reportedly tend to feel overwhelmed by role stress, the scrutiny of the male touch in relation to female tenderness and the capacity of men to care.
Research shows that tackling gender bias and promoting sexual diversity within the workforce is essential to recruiting and retaining males into the field.
