Stereotypes have been around forever: the preconceived belief about a type of person or group. Stereotypes can remark on different races or cultures like Polish people or African American people. For example, stereotypes may say Americans are lazy obese, or unintelligent. There are also many stereotypes about genders. For example, women are weaker than men or women like to cook more than men or they are better caretakers. This discussion addresses major controversial stereotypes within medical schools and health institutions across America. For centuries women have faced the challenge of gender inequality within their medical education and profession. Different medical fields in schools, practices and institutions have different types of gender issues. For example, males are criticized for becoming to be a nurse, while women are seen as unequipped to become a doctor or surgeon. Despite advances in leveling out the gender pool within the medical field, the typical stereotypes of men and women continue to influence the challenges women face in this chosen profession.
There have been many improvements in the elimination of lopsided enrollment acceptances into medical fields. In 1977 only 8% women to 93% men became doctors in America (Walsh, ix), while today almost 47% women are enrolling into the higher education programs (Broman, Gender Issues in Surgical Training). Additionally women are choosing more specialized fields in their higher medical education as a part of the fight. Many women are becoming more public in this controversy by filing lawsuits. “I had to decide, should I go on working under the given circumstances, despite knowing what I knew, or fight in pursuit of what I believed to be fair and right? My strong sense of ...
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Even in the medical field, male doctors were dominate to the hundreds of well educated midwives. “Male physicians are easily identified in town records and even in Martha’s diary, by the title “Doctor.” No local woman can be discovered that way” (Ulrich, 1990, pg.61). Martha was a part of this demoralized group of laborers. Unfortunately for her, “in twentieth-century terms, the ability to prescribe and dispense medicine made Martha a physician, while practical knowledge of gargles, bandages, poultices and clisters, as well as willingness to give extended care, defined her as a nurse” (Ulrich, 1990, pg.58). In her diary she even portrays doctors, not midwives, as inconsequential in a few medical
In “Defining a Doctor,” Zuger compares specific behaviors and attitudes of the male and the female intern. Zuger begins to observe how her two interns handle medicine and how they connect with their patients on a personal level. Zuger finds the woman intern to be more prepared by how she brought notebooks and pens every day to work while the man intern would come with empty pockets instead. The women soon began to grow emotionally attached to her patients and would work late hours, sometimes not bothering to go home and rest. In contrast, the man showed up on time to work and would leave as scheduled. The woman would not only do her job to get more things done efficiently but she would even do others work while, the male intern wouldn’t attempt to do anyone else’s work other than his own. When it came to that time when their patient would pass, the women would cry while the male shrugged his shoulders. The women might have had a better relationship since it was easier for her to emotionally connect with her patient than the man. Zuger concludes that “The women cared too much” while “the man cared to little.” She worked too hard, and he could not be prodded into working hard enough. The women distinguish that her patient was “hers” and did everything she could to make to make them feel comfortable. From my experience, my mother is a great example of how she is similar to the woman intern. At her job, she feels the need to do everyone 's job in order to get things done and would come home feeling stressed. She has a great relationship with all of her employees and they would always come to her comfort. Just like the intern, she would put others before
Angelou once said, “The people may forget the nurses name, but they will never forget how that nurse made them feel.” Nursing is a profession. Unfortunately, nursing does not always get the credit it deserves because of these stereotypes. Nursing is not a gay profession for males. Due to the shortage of nurses, our society needs more nurses now than never. Nurses make a difference in almost every person’s lives just not in hospital rooms but also in schools and clinics. Nursing in not easy job but somebody has to do it. There has to those individuals who must take on this challenge and be the difference in someone’s life. People could not care if someone considers them a failure for being a nurse and not a doctor. Most doctors could not do their job effectively without the help and assistance of nurses. The money is there for those who think nurses does not get paid that much. Healthcare is one of the biggest factors in our world, and for our world to progress further, an increase in employment for nursing is necessary. These stereotypes should not and will not stop the field of nursing from
In “Defining a Doctor” Zuger compares specific behavior and attitudes of the women and the men intern. Zuger begins to observe how her two interns emotions and how they handle medicine and how they connect with their patient. She begins to take notice on how different both of the interns behaviors are and how they interact with the patient. Zuger finds the women intren to be more prepared and brought notebooks and pens while the male intern would come with empty pockets instead. The women soon began to grow emotionally attached to her patient that should would work late hours and sometimes did not go home while the male showed up on time on his schedule and would leave on the dot where he could leave. The women would not only do just her work to get more things done and become efficient she would even her others work to get the job done while the male wouldn’t even lay a finger on anyone 's work and would stay focus on his instead. When it came to that time when the patient would pass, the women would cry and the male just shrugged his shoulders and move on. The women might have had a better relationship since she was more emotional connection then the man. Zuger concludes “The women cared too much an dht man cared to little. She worked too hard, and he could not be prodded into working hard enough. They both made careless mistakes”. The women distinguish that her patent
Porterfield, Deborah. Top Careers in Two Years: Health Care, Medicine, and Science. New York, New York: Infobase Publishing, Inc., 2008. 1-8. Print.
Its 1:30 am and you are have just experienced a major car wreck. You are in the ambulance where the paramedics are telling you it will be ok just hold still big. You arrive at the emergency room and everything is a blurred. You don’t care if the nurse is a female or a male. You don’t stop the male nurse from caring for you. But what happens when you go to the doctor for a follow up visit and see a male nurse? Do you still see a powerful male that saved your life or a powerless manweak feminine failure ? When providing care for a patient, a male nurse faces challenges such as gender bias and judgement .
The once male dominated, corporate, "white collar" America has seen a phenomenal influx of women within the last thirty years. Although a female lawyer, physician, or CEO is no longer considered a rarity in our times, women still face quite a deal of oppression in comparison to their male counterparts. In retrospect, some professions have always been controlled by women, and men have not made a noticeable advance in these fields. In 1970, finding a female lawyer to represent you would be a difficult task, since less than five percent of the profession were women. Today, that number has risen to almost thirty percent. The percentage of female doctors has almost tripled in the course of thirty years. African Americans have not made such a conspicuous progression within the last fifty years, while women have made a tremendous impact on the corporate world. One may wonder, how did women make these extraordinary advances? For the most part, it is due to the education they receive. At the present time young girls are encouraged to enroll in classes dealing with math and science, rather than home economics and typing. As pointed out by Nanette Asimov, in her essay "Fewer Teen Girls Enrolling in Technology Classes", school officials are advocating the necessity of advanced placement, and honor classes for teenage girls, in both the arts and sciences. This support and reassurance than carries over onto college, and finds a permanent fixture in a woman’s life. While women are continuing their success in once exclusively male oriented professions, they are still lacking the respect and equality from their peers, coworkers, and society. The average male lawyer, and doctor make twenty-five percent more money than their female equivalent. Women have always lived with the reputation of being intellectually inferior to, and physically submissive to men. This medieval, ignorant notion is far fetched from the truth. In 1999, high school men and women posted similar SAT scores, being separated by a only a few points. In addition to posting similar scores on the SAT, the average males score was a mere two-tenths of a point higher than an average females score on the ACT. Even though a woman maybe as qualified as a male for a certain occupation , women receive unwanted harassment, and are under strict scrutiny. A good illustration of this would be the women represented in "Two Women Cadets Leave the Citadel.
Blau, F., & Kahn, L. (2007). The Gender Pay Gap: Have Women Gone as far as they can. Academy of Management Perspectives , 21 (1), 7-23.
There was seldom a mention of male and male students choosing to become nurses. Along with the belief of nursing being a career choice more female-directed, there was also the repeated mention of the career being for middle-class women (Price, 2008). Historically, women have been the dominant face of nursing and it has always been considered a suitable career for women, whereas most careers in the past would never be acceptable for a female. For some of the female students who were interviewed, this stereotype was part of a deferent to choosing nursing. They did not want to be thought of as a stereotypical women, and be casted into a mould of what most women choose (Price, Hall, Angus, & Peter, 2013). In a modern society, more and more women are wishing to push the boundaries on what use to be referred to as a male dominated territory. This is true in careers as well. Many females second guess their decision in choosing nursing due to
There are many women who had huge influences in the advancement of heath and medicine. Many people don’t realize how much women do and how much they have contributed to the medical world and its advancements. From Lillian D. Wald, who worked with the less fortunate and children in schools, to Virginia Apgar, who worked with mothers and their newborns and also came up with the “Apgar Score,” and Eku Esu-Williams who is an immunologist and an AIDS Educator. Even though women did so much, many people were sexist and didn’t want to acknowledge what they did or give them the chance to do things, such as become doctors. I want to inform people on how much these women have contributed to the world of healthcare and medicine so that people won’t be so sexist towards women.
However, women desired a higher education. Elizabeth Blackwell is a prime example of women’s fight for a medical degree, one of the first STEM environments available to women. In order to kick-start her education she wrote to all of the doctors that she knew, requesting advice and help. However, most of the doctors replied that they thought it impossible, that a woman would not be able to endure the rigors of a medical education, and that they feared the competition that women doctors would bring. Elizabeth persisted, finally making her way to Philadelphia, a city famous for its study in medicine, to stay with Dr. Elder, one of the few supporters of her education. Once here she continued writing letters and actually found many friends who agreed to support her cause, but unfortunately universities were not included in this list of friends. Elizabeth then pursued an education at the University of Geneva in New York where the Medical Faculty and students agreed to accept her. While at first the university cared about the press coverage that Elizabeth’s spot would bring, she eventually established her rightful place as a student there. Although she encountered some resentment among the wives of doctors and other people living in the small town, Elizabeth ...
Among twenty leading female-dominated professions, registered nurses (RN’s) are the second most occupation that employed women in 2006¬. Similar to many traditionally female professions, the percentage of male in nursing is small. In fact, male nurses only comprised eight percent of RN’s in 2008. Although much effort has been made to recruit more men into nursing, many contributing factors have driven them away from this profession. Those factors include poor nursing image, negative public perception, low economic status, and gender stereotypes. One of the most significant factors that deter men from entering the profession is stereotypes. Research shows that men might be more likely to encounter stereotypes than discrimination; however, gender discrimination throughout the society still exists, which may discourage them from entering the profession. Gender segregation has separated male nurses into the minority group that faces many obstacles within the profession, in which negative stereotypes are the primary obstacle for men who want to enter the nursing force.
In the operation of the healthcare system, gender plays a central role. Gender discrimination in the healthcare exists either in the field of education, workplace or while attending to the patients. Interestingly, as opposed to other areas where discrimination lies heavily to a particular gender; gender inequality in health happens to both women and men. Gender inequality in the health care service negatively affects the quality of care given and perpetuates patient biases to a gender. Also, the gender disparities in the field of health assists researchers and practitioners to study conditions and their probable manifestations within both sexes.
...ld. Women are most often stereotyped as only being nurses or other lower-end health professionals. There is a huge difference between the percent of males and the percent of females when it comes to more advanced medical fields. A study conducted by Reed and Fischer found that women are not promoted at the same rate as men in medical fields. They feel that women are under-represented in higher medical positions. The CEJA found that there is a large difference in salaries between men and women. Studies show that the average female physician earns 34 percent less than her male counterpart. Female physicians are more likely to earn a relatively low income and are less likely to gain a relatively higher income. For example, while 19 percent of female physicians earned less than $60,000, only 7 percent of male physicians earned less than that same amount (CEJA, 1994).
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