The disparity in the number of nurses in the UK who identify as men compared with women is acknowledged within the profession. However, research has focused on identifying that there is a gender imbalance, rather than on why or how it can be resolved. In 2002, the proportion of men working in nursing was 10.2%, with suggestions that increasing the number of male nurses might bring social and economic benefits to the whole nursing workforce (Waters, 2002). Twenty years later, only 10.9% of registered nurses in the UK were male (Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), 2022a). In Scotland, the situation was worse with 9.1% of registrants identifying as men (NMC, 2022b).
A predicted rise in male nurse numbers has not materialised. The situation remains stubbornly in stasis, indicating that campaigns to recruit men have been unsuccessful. Campaigns that increased applications to nursing courses are too new to see whether they will impact on recruitment and retention.
When a gender lens is applied to nursing, the focus has generally been on perceptions that men have more success in nursing once recruited and on why. This contributes to what has been coined ‘the glass escalator’ (Punshon et al, 2019). Men appear to achieve higher bands and progress more quickly than women with equal experience. Given the scarcity of men in the workforce, were they to be more equally represented, the effect could be diluted.
Historically, low male numbers have been attributed to views that caring roles are carried out by women, or that nursing is a feminine occupation (Villeneuve, 1994). These views have frequently been, albeit perhaps unintentionally, sustained through generations by the nursing profession. Without evidence, it is unclear how patients, or the current nursing population, feel about the lack of men in nursing, The gender mix in nursing is not representative of the UK population overall, with male patients therefore being denied the choice of personal care being given by another male.
A quick online search shows that some nurse employers, including NHS trusts, still advertise for sisters and matrons. The UK fire service and all UK police forces abandoned gender-exclusive role titles in the 1980s, in an effort to address glaring gender exclusivity, yet they persist in nursing (Stephenson, 2020). Numerous discriminatory behaviours and practices, including anti-male remarks by nursing faculty and being referred to as ‘she’, contribute to effectively excluding men (MacWilliams et al, 2013). When the question of gender-based discrimination against men in nursing is raised, an anecdotal counterpoint is often offered that men progress more quickly or are disproportionately represented in senior positions (Punshon et al, 2019). This simply detracts from the real issue – like smoke and mirrors it masks the fact that nursing as a profession is not gender inclusive, let alone gender diverse.
For nursing to reflect the improvements achieved in gender accessibility and diversity by other public service professions, there must be recognition that there is a problem. Men have much to offer in a modern nursing workforce. In the UK, nursing has never been under such pressure to recruit and retain staff, yet the profession fails to recruit from almost 50% of the population. To address this, several actions are required: first, research is needed to increase understanding about how to make nursing a more attractive career choice for men and what difference this would make to patients; second, there is a need to robustly evaluate male recruitment and retention campaigns; and, third, to develop a co-ordinated strategy to address the gender gap.