In the Pursuit of an Identity

Analysing the Case of Male Health Care Providers

Bibliographic Data

ID12999907
AuthorsAnakha Ajith (0000-0003-0451-3148, University of Hyderabad, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume9
Issue3
Pages310-310
Publication date2020-10-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMasculinities & Social Change (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2014-3605 • E-ISSN: 2014-3605
PublisherHipatia Press (PUBLISHER • ES)
DOI10.17583/mcs.2020.5461
OpenAlexW3094129912
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited20

Being a female-concentrated job, nursing has forgotten the place of men within the profession despite their contribution since time immemorial. The heightened efforts of Florence Nightingale to transform nursing into a respectable female occupation denied men the opportunity to enter this domain. Despite their growing representation, they are still a minority in nursing in countries across the globe. When the occupational roles do not conform to the gender-appropriate roles prescribed by the society, the ‘male’ nurses’ prestige and self-esteem are at risk since others recognize them neither as true nurses nor as real men. Drawing majorly from secondary sources and data gathered from an anthropological study of in-home care providers in the South Indian state of Kerala, this paper on the predicament of men in nursing throws light on the ‘spoiled identity’ they carry; the work stress, gender stereotyping, stigma and discrimination they encounter by always being suspected and their very identity and sexual orientation questioned. A note on the strategies employed by them to overcome the problems is also within the purview of this paper

Gender identity · Globe · Health care · Identity (music · Political science · Prestige · Psychiatry · Sociology · Stigma (botany · Gender Studies · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Social and Economic Development in India · Social Psychology