85 to 90 percent of the nursing staff is made up of women. Which is explained by the desertion of the men in the first years of formation. In addition to the generalized perception as a field historically associated with them. This was signed by Rabín Amadeo Martínez Hernández, academic at the National School of Nursing and Obstetrics (ENEO) of the UNAM.
Mexico is below the number of male health professionals
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Mexico is below in the number of these health professionals. The foregoing, with respect to other nations with economies similar to Mexico, such as Chile or Argentina. The average per thousand inhabitants is 8.8 for the member countries of the organization.
The United States has approximately 15; Mexico does not reach three: 2.9.
This evidence, the researcher argued, makes it necessary to consider the need for professionalization and subsequent incorporation of nursing personnel into the national health system. And in particular the training of male nurses, which can help reduce the deficit in the union.
On the other hand, the expert mentioned that gender roles have often prevented men from joining these types of activities. Although historically the cares were. For example, in charge of the monks in the Middle Ages, with Florence Nightingale. A modern and systematized vision of the profession was given, where women were left with a central role.
Part of the masculine identity?
In your exhibition “Male caregivers, experiences and perceptions of male nursing students. Two case studies ”. The university student makes an approach to how they live their work and their masculine identity. As well as the barriers they face.
Thus, regarding the above, the expert mentioned that the students, beyond conceiving nursing care as altruistic or with affective tendencies. They link it to a field of knowledge strongly articulated with the health sciences.
“They are struck by the dynamism of the profession, the interaction with people and the technical and scientific aspects of the discipline.”
So what is the problem?
However, man is conceived as a subject who is not prepared to work with certain people. In particular with women or children, given the idea that men tend to sexualize bodies. In that sense, in practice there is self-exclusion from certain activities.
There is also strong questioning of their sexual orientation when joining the profession. “This is a female field, due to the large number of women who exercise it. But at the same time feminizing, given the stereotypical version of nursing, altruistic or sentimental ”, he emphasized.
The consequences of a vision of feminized nursing
The vision of feminized nursing from the perspective of male peers in the family or acquaintances. It strips these men of certain virile traits and places them in a marginal hierarchy within the male structure, Martínez Hernández noted.
He found that “nursing is a field where hegemonic masculinity is also expressed. In such a way it can be established that it is a feminized professional field. But where power structures between men prevail from the male hegemonic hierarchical order ”.
The field of masculinities in nursing is a still incipient line of research in our country and in Latin America.
However, it is clear that the little theoretical documentation that exists evidences the invisibility of the male subject. This, within a field historically associated with women, asserted Rabín Amadeo Martínez.
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