“Work is the effort or activity of an individual that is undertaken for the purpose of providing goods or services of value to others and that is considered by the individual to be work”, Thus, after weighing all existing circumstances, is work as seen in the eyes of Richard H. Hall in his book, ‘Sociology of Work, perspectives, analyses and issues’. Most would view it on the basis of monetary remuneration, but others would see it beyond this, a source of self fulfilment, happiness, inner satisfaction, or as how Maslow puts it, self actualization . It is on this second party that I am going to build my case, and no other occupation better suits this category than nursing.
Nursing is perhaps one of the most overlooked and underrated jobs in the working world Hence, with this paper I aim to provide more understanding regarding this profession (generally and sociologically), and it is hoped that it would captivate more attention and interests among the public, simultaneously shedding some light onto the question of whether nursing is actually gaining recognition in the arena of professions. The layout of this essay would be such that, I would initially provide some general information and statistics on nursing which include wages, gender matters, qualifications and requirements (enrolment to nursing schools) and the problems faced by the nursing field, government initiatives and plans. From here we will be enlightened on the current situation, problems and what’s in store for nurses in the future. For most cases, examples from two developed countries, Singapore and The U.S. will be used .
Let us start our discussion with the most primary of concerns when choosing any jobs, wages. It is a widely accepted idea that nurses earn relatively low pays. But, attempts to attract more people, coupled with the increasing demand for nurses, this idea is fast becoming obsolete. A survey by Nursing 2004 in the U.S., showed that there was an increase in average salaries compared to previous years. 25% of the respondents reportedly earn US$65000 annually (increase of 15% from 2003), while the larger percentage of women reported earning US$75000 (11% up from 5%) . Education, as Cheryl L. Mee, editor in chief of Nursing 2004 puts it, also makes a difference, where one with an Associate Degree (AD) will earn less than one who holds a BSN or MSN . Subsequently, a BSN degree holder earns less than an MSN graduate e.g. an MSN graduate would earn US$68200 annually, compared to the US$56900 of a BSN holder . Figure 1 shows the average pay earned by nurses in different locations, showing increase from the previous year. Other than pay, gender issues are also frequent questions raised when talking about this profession.
Comparing Average Full-time Annual Income and Base Hourly Rates by Geographic Location
Figure 1
Nursing is dubbed a woman’s job, as it requires one to possess ‘motherly’ qualities, to provide tender loving care with gentleness and compassion (Form and Nosow 1962). Though female dominance is still pervasive, male participation is gradually catching attention. An article in the Straits Times (Singapore) for Monday, 22 August, 2005 reported that there are growing numbers of men who chose this path. In 2001, 77 males took up nursing courses at the Nanyang Polytechnic and The Institute of Technical Education and this rose to 174 this year, where another Polytechnic (Ngee Ann) also introduced a similar course. Despite this, the proportion of male nurses to their female counterparts remains one-sided, 6.9%. This also holds true for other developed countries, where the proportion is found to be 10% compared to female nurses .
In addition, The National Sampling Survey conducted by the US Department of Health and Human Services found that there was an increase in Male nurses in 2001 compared to 1996 (5.0% to 5.4%). Also, in fall 2000, 6855 of the 71459 (9.2%) enrolled in nursing programs were men. The words of Steven Koh, a nursing student from ITE sums up what motivates males to take up this career, “Other people told me: it’s such a tiring job, it’s a girl’s job, why do you want to do it? But I’m proud that I’ll be doing a job that that saves lives.” (Straits Times 2005: 2). Studies show that inter-gender tensions do exist, where the male nurses revealed that they are somewhat marginalized and isolated from the majority female nurses e.g. always being left out in conversations, thus only a few would regard their female counterparts as ‘close friends’. Male nurses also tend to be left out in social events, although this does not deny the fact that some do establish social networks with the female nurses . This phenomenon gives rise what is called tokenism , a sociological scenario where male nurses (being the token or object) are more visible (easy to recognize and being noticed), their boundary with female nurses is more pronounced (contrast) and they are advantageously stereotyped in masculine and leadership roles (assimilation) Source. In truth, nursing is gender compliant, as Ms Ang Beng Choo, the Singapore Health Ministry’s chief nursing officer mentioned, “We are gender-neutral and just aiming to increase the overall number of nurses here, but we could certainly do with more men”. But, regardless of gender, it is acknowledged that the qualifications one holds determines whether he/she will step foot in this field.
