Gender equality in Nursing (a misleading title)
https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/blog/2014/08/women-in-leadership
I think the topic of women growing in numbers (and subsequently, succeeding) in fields dominated by men is a good start to the ongoing discussion of gender equality, I do. But I do think it's equally important to evaluate what it means to be a woman in a field dominated by women. Case in point -- healthcare. I could pull up stats, but undeniably, the (far) greater percentage of workers in heallthcare settings are female. What does that mean for upward movement? And upon moving up, what does that mean when you sit at table?
I've worked as a nurse for 8 years (gasp). All of my direct superiors have been women, and 7 out of 8 Directors of Nursing have been women. I've had likely as many administrators, and 50% have been women. The numbers are in in terms of women holding positions, but what did that mean, necessarily? I want to say two things to preface: 1) Superiors have a way of setting the tone/culture of a work environment, and 2) I recognize that there are other factors at play, and gender is not the only driving force in the dynamics of a place. All that being said, my female bosses have had to work hard -- to slog through the brouhaha of the day to day, having very small slices of time in which to carry out a vision for our forward movement. They always had to have their hands in the mud of things. Our one male director came to work 4 days a week, set-up our electronic medical record (faultily, I might add), and we rarely bothered him with anything but to give notice of possible problems that we'd already handled, but may escalate and therefore come to his attention from a different source. And when your boss is a certain way, you adapt to their way of doing things, naturally. So, I'm just saying. One of the articles is like, women make up 85% of the workforce, but make up only 40% of leadership. Sometimes they make up 70% of leadership, but if they don't have that sense of entitement men have in those positions, their numbers may not necessarily equate bargaining power. I don't know. Nursing, especially, seems the quintessential female job, and consequently we're stuck with the female mental load seen in family dynamics, but magnified to a larger scale to cover an entire healthcare institution.
...My brain is not braining to do this properly and constructively, but I thought I'd lay the groundwork for the thought. Until the next brainwave, I guess.
I think the topic of women growing in numbers (and subsequently, succeeding) in fields dominated by men is a good start to the ongoing discussion of gender equality, I do. But I do think it's equally important to evaluate what it means to be a woman in a field dominated by women. Case in point -- healthcare. I could pull up stats, but undeniably, the (far) greater percentage of workers in heallthcare settings are female. What does that mean for upward movement? And upon moving up, what does that mean when you sit at table?
I've worked as a nurse for 8 years (gasp). All of my direct superiors have been women, and 7 out of 8 Directors of Nursing have been women. I've had likely as many administrators, and 50% have been women. The numbers are in in terms of women holding positions, but what did that mean, necessarily? I want to say two things to preface: 1) Superiors have a way of setting the tone/culture of a work environment, and 2) I recognize that there are other factors at play, and gender is not the only driving force in the dynamics of a place. All that being said, my female bosses have had to work hard -- to slog through the brouhaha of the day to day, having very small slices of time in which to carry out a vision for our forward movement. They always had to have their hands in the mud of things. Our one male director came to work 4 days a week, set-up our electronic medical record (faultily, I might add), and we rarely bothered him with anything but to give notice of possible problems that we'd already handled, but may escalate and therefore come to his attention from a different source. And when your boss is a certain way, you adapt to their way of doing things, naturally. So, I'm just saying. One of the articles is like, women make up 85% of the workforce, but make up only 40% of leadership. Sometimes they make up 70% of leadership, but if they don't have that sense of entitement men have in those positions, their numbers may not necessarily equate bargaining power. I don't know. Nursing, especially, seems the quintessential female job, and consequently we're stuck with the female mental load seen in family dynamics, but magnified to a larger scale to cover an entire healthcare institution.
...My brain is not braining to do this properly and constructively, but I thought I'd lay the groundwork for the thought. Until the next brainwave, I guess.