Insider Knowledge and Male Nurses: How Men become Registered Nurses

Abstract

This chapter examines the process by which men enter registered nursing. Research on men's entrance into atypical fields has looked at either motivational or career paths differences between men and women. I integrate these approaches by examining how men's prior work experience influences their subsequent career decisions and motivations. I find that men who are nurses are more likely to have had a prior health-care job, and this exposure helps them to recast nursing from a “female-only” job to an acceptable career choice. This reorientation job experience is a way for men to overcome informal barriers of “social control” (Jacobs, 1989) to entering a female-dominated occupation. These findings have implications for current efforts by many states and organizations that seek to expand the registered nursing workforce.

Citation

Snyder, K.A. (2011), "Insider Knowledge and Male Nurses: How Men become Registered Nurses", Jacobs Kronenfeld, J. (Ed.) Access to Care and Factors that Impact Access, Patients as Partners in Care and Changing Roles of Health Providers (Research in the Sociology of Health Care, Vol. 29), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 21-41. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0275-4959(2011)0000029004