“They’re Doing Their Own Kind of Nursing”: Challenging the Gender Bias

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite Iceland's reputation as a gender equal country, men make up about 4% of nurses which is low in comparison with similar countries. To shed light on what determines the choice of nursing and on cooperation at work, interviews with ten female and seven male nurses were analysed with reflexive thematic analysis. Drawing on poststructuralist and feminist theories, focusing on power relations and gender in the workplace, the analysis revealed stereotypical gender differences. Choosing nursing was for the female nurses a “natural” channel for their talents, the males were conscious of crossing a line and prepared for stereotyping obstacles. A powerful hierarchy characterized daily work, female nurses described suppressing working situations and lack of support, males ranked themselves higher in respect and opportunities, prioritized their professional boundaries, self-care, and nursing competence, free of gender labels. This difference is an important and self-sustaining part of nurses’ image as powerless, deters young people from nursing education and leads to distance between genders in the workplace. The findings highlight the need to recognize and tackle stereotyping, which maintains inequality, prioritizing diversity instead is a task for educational and health systems, and the debate on gender equality in Iceland.