Originally Posted by
Jelston
StacyL,
I seriously hope that other "professional" female nurses do not share your short-sighted and critically incorrect points. This has nothing to do with "politically correct" views. Men are not taking nursing positions away from women any more than women are taking IT and computer positions away from men (or in other professions such as Law Enforcement, military, etc.) It is also disturbing that you feel that just because bias towards women in the workplace had existed historically in the past, that it should justify continuing into the future towards men to "make them pay" or "get them back". Any profession should be open to BOTH men and women. That is the trend that society is trying to move towards. Your suggestion only takes us in reverse and causes unneeded animosity in the job market. To say that men are incapable of being nurturers leads me to believe that not only have you never been exposed to men who love their families, their children, and their wives, but perhaps you had a bad experience as a child yourself with your own father. But even if that is true, you cannot make such a broad generalization about all men. I had a terrible mother who knew absolutely nothing about compassion, caring, or even love. Yet, I do not think that all women are incapable of those abilities. You should also check statistics and facts before you make untrue statements about "deadbeat" dads and sexual offenders. Believe me, there are just as many "deadbeat mothers" out there too. You might have heard about some of them who leave their children in garbage cans, lock them in cars and then roll the cars into lakes and rivers, or throw their children off bridges. How many millions of women across the nation leave their children uncared for while they go out to prostitute and feed crack habits? (Just watch a few episodes of COPS) And finally, the sexual offender offense is not closed to women either. Almost every month, the news reports of female teachers who are having sex and even babies with minor-aged boys. However, since female sex offenders are considered differently in our society, they are often not reported as much as male sex offenders (who often are mis-reported by female "victims" really seeking some attention), so there is most lilely a LOT more female sexual assults that go unreported and unacknowledged each year across the country. The point I am making is that your views are very biased and not grounded in fact. There are good men and there are good women. Unfortunately, there are many BAD women just as there are many bad men too. But this has nothing to do with the gender qualifications of a medical position, such as nursing. A nurse's merits should be based on the academic and professional history of that particular person's career, NOT on whether the nurse is male or female. Finally, your "old school" point of view isn't so old afterall. It has only been in the last century that nursing has been a "female dominated" career. Historically, in other countries and in other civilizations, it was either men or both men and women. The trend today to open up nursing to both men and women is not new, it is merely a return to an "older school" of thought that existed previously. You're right about one thing, you are entittled to your own opinion and you can continue to be convicted to it. But opinions can be wrong too. Especially when they are not grounded in fact. A wise person knows that when faced with true factual evidence, a sincere openess to consider and even change their opinion is always an option. I hope that you will make such a choice.