Nursing remains a predominantly female field in 2012, although the number of men in nursing has increased. About 7 percent of nurses are men, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Gender equality cuts both ways in nursing; men are both more likely to succeed in certain areas of nursing and less likely to be hired in others. Male nurses earn higher salaries overall, but more women work part time than men, which impacts both their earnings and their promotion potential.
Male and female nurses hired right out of school into the same area generally make the same salary, especially in unionized hospitals, where salaries are standardized by experience. As their careers advance, male nurses generally make more than women, either because they choose nursing specialties that pay more, such as anesthesiology, or because they advance into management positions, which pay more. In 2010, the median weekly salary for male nurses was $1,201, compared to $1,039 for women -- 86 percent of the male nurse's salary, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While male nurses have an easier time getting specialty nursing jobs such as medivac positions or jobs requiring physical strength, such as mental health, women have a much easier time getting hired into traditionally female areas such as labor and delivery, postpartum or newborn nursery. Men represent about 45 percent of nurse anesthetists, one of the highest-paying nursing specialties, according to the Anesthesia Zone website.
Men have a decided advantage when it comes to promotion into management and administration positions; they hold a disproportionate number of these positions, according to a May 2012 article on the "Forbes" magazine website. Men in the nursing field are also promoted into upper-level positions even when they have less education or work experience than women vying for the same positions. Their rates of promotion also surpass those of peers working in male-dominated professions rather than female-dominated professions like nursing.
Men leave the nursing field altogether more frequently than women and for different reasons. According to a study published in the July-September issue of the "Nursing Forum," men were 2.5 times more likely to leave nursing for a higher-paying job. About 7.5 percent of male nurses leave the nursing field within four years of graduation, compared to 4.1 percent of women nurses, according to a CBS News report on a February 2009 article published by the University of Pennsylvania in "Health Affairs."
The general public still perceives nursing as primarily a woman's job that requires a nurturing, caring personality. The perception also exists that most men who go into nursing are gay. Male nurses must tread cautiously when giving care to ensure that they don't project any hint of sexuality in their touch; because of this potential threat, male nurses can be hindered in providing the kind of care they would like in nursing, according to a November 2004 article in the "Advanced Journal of Nursing."
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2010
- Forbes: A New Obstacle For Professional Women __ The Glass Escalator
- AnesthesiaZone: The Employment Outlook for Nurse Anesthetists
- Nursing Forum: Factors that Influence the Decisions of Men and Women Nurses to Leave Nursing
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Male Nurses Break Through Barriers to Diversify Profession
- CBS News: Is There a Male Nurse in the House?
- Journal of Advanced Nursing: Cautious Caregivers -- Gender Stereotypes and the Sexualization of Men Nurses' Touch
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