Nurse leaders have a responsibility to combat gender discrimination in nursing. By exercising their leadership and interpersonal skills, they can help minimize gender discrimination among nursing staff.
First, nurse leaders need to learn to recognize their own potential gender biases. They can do this by reflecting on the experiences of nurses who are male, transgender and binary to become more sensitized to the incidents of gender bias they may encounter. They can also analyze their expectations of nurses who are female. Perhaps they will discover they expect more caring and collaborative behavior from them compared to nurses who are male.
Beyond increasing their own awareness, nurse leaders should initiate conversations with their staff about gender discrimination in nursing, discussing how it presents in both subtle and overt ways and using specific examples. This makes identifying bias, a first step to eliminating it, easier for nurses.
Strategies to Tackle Gender Discrimination in Nursing
Nurse leaders must set the right tone to tackle gender discrimination in nursing. This requires prioritizing gender equality and acting decisively in response to gender discrimination when it appears.
For example, nurse leaders need to address microaggressions, ignored opinions and inappropriate comments when they happen. Though such conversations can be uncomfortable, they offer everyone a chance to develop awareness and learn. They also make it cear that gender discrimination will not be tolerated.
Because words have power, careful use of language is an important tool for dismantling gender discrimination. By eliminating gender-biased terms, such as “male nurse,” nurse leaders help discourage people from associating gender with the profession.
Rebranding nursing as gender-neutral lends legitimacy to the profession and discourages discrimination by expelling gender-driven assumptions about nurses.