Abstract
Introduction: The study discovered that the striking level of gender inequality in the nursing profession, is partially influenced by some individual related factors like gender where male are only 26.4%. This striking numerical gender inequality, has positioned the few male especially those at a care giving role, at a more risk of psychological abuses from the patients/attendant, fellow nurses and other health professionals. Patients/attendants wrongly calls them doctors while some of their female counterpart and other health professionals says they are academic failures who have failed to be doctors. This is psychological abuse and gender discrimination in the female dominated profession. For that reason, the study has exposed that some of the youthful male in the profession, are suffering the effect of psychological abuse evidenced by them avoiding the nurses’ uniform and putting on scrub clothes in order to confuse and meet public expectation of them being doctors. In addition, the 3.7% Muslims is an outstanding religious affiliation disparity in the profession. The 43.3% of the gender discriminated nursing professionals were told that they are academic failures but this study has dismissed that claim. It has confirmed that all the nurses/student nurses has attained the minimum set standards by Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports to professionally train with the main aim of saving life though graduate nurses are still few at only 6%. The study has unveiled that 9.1% of the nurses have joined the profession because of mistreatment of patients/attendants by some nurses. Much as most of the nurses/student nurses were motivated to join the profession to help the sick, some were for employment opportunity and others because of the nurses dressing code. It has been found that there is a gradual generational mind set change about the profession being a female profession to a gender neutral profession. 78.5% of the respondents proof it by saying they would recommend both gender to join the profession since they are all capable of serving and saving life. But, there is still a mixed feeling about the male in the profession, some nurses and student nurses saysthey are academic failures, some are using nursing as a stepping stone to their next medical profession while some respondents said that some of the male in nursing are very good, very knowledgeable, hardworking and caring than the female nurses. All these finding justifies individual related factors influencing gender inequality in the nursing profession. The main study objectives was to established the factors influencing gender inequality in the nursing profession among nurses and student nurses from the selected hospital and nurses training institution in the Northern Cities of Uganda. The specific objective was to determine individual related factors influencing Gender inequality in the Nursing Profession among the respondents from the study sites. Methodology: the study used a cross-sectional study design to obtained quantitative data from the respondents in Gulu, Lira and Arua Cities. Trained research assistants used a pretested structured English questionnaire to obtain the raw data which were single entered and analyzed using statistical software version
26. Frequency tables and graphs were used to describe the study variables. Univaraite and bivariate analysis methods were used to identify factors associated with gender inequality. Variables with P-value of <0.05 with 95% confidence interval were used to declare statistical significance.
Results: 383 participants were interviewed generating 95.6% responses. 4.4% non-r esponses were due to various reasons which doesn’t affect result. Most of the respondent who had experienced gender discrimination, 34.2% were from patients/attendants and 26.3% were from fellow nurses/students. 35.5% of the respondents think some of the male nurses are using nursing as a stepping stone to being doctors. Gender (x2- 10.294, p-value 0.001), level of education (x2 - 6.293, p-value 0.043), religious affiliation (x2 - 8.296, p-value
0.004), level of program of training (x2- 10.453, p –value 0.015), experience of discrimination (x2 - 4.360, pvalue 0.0037) and gender to recommend for nursing profession (x2- 6.024, p-value 0.049) were some of the individual related factors which were significantly associated to gender inequality in the nursing profession.
Conclusion: gender inequality affecting nursing profession is greatly influenced by individual related factors though other factors may also be contributing. Other than gender itself, there is striking numerical religious inequality with Muslim being the marginalised group. Patients/attendants, other health professionals and nurses themselves are the perpetuator of gender discrimination in the profession. Some of the impact of the discrimination is revealed in most of the stigmatised youthful male at a care giving role. They are avoiding
the nurses’ professional uniform to confuse and meet the public expectation of them being doctors. Parents and other relatives do greatly influenced the decision of a child to be a nurse for job security. Unprofessional conduct of some nurses on patients/attendants is a negative motivating factor for some individual to join the profession. The gradual generational mind set change about nursing being a female profession to a gender neutral profession need to be accelerated.
Recommendation: Swift action is needed from International and Non-Governmental Organizations, Government Ministries, Nurses and Midwives councils, National Nurses and Midwives Organizations as well Religious leaders for a comprehensive and collaborative effort in mind set change of the public. More research; evidenced based policy change and development; effective implementation strategies and
monitoring the implementation process in order to bridge the gaps of gender equality and save the nursing profession from the unfairness which at the end impact on the patient.
Background of the study
Gender is economic, social and cultural attributes and opportunities which determines what is expected, allowed and valued in a woman or a man (jhpiego, 2020).Gender equality is a condition of equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities for all genders. Gender inequality is therefore, a social process where men and women are treated differently by having special consideration for one gender. According to declaration of Philadelphia, all human beings irrespective of race, faith or sex; have the right to obtain material wellbeing and spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, economic security and equal opportunity (Press, 2021). WHO in the 49th
World Health Assembly, recognized the potential of Nurses to quality and effective Health services and suggested that nurses must be involved at all level of Health System.(Sharrif & Potggieter, 2012). According to Sunday Summer, gender inequality in nursing profession is
numerically distinct with female being predominant and their handling reflects the way women are treated in the society (Summer, 2017). Media portrays them feminine stereotypes like low skilled handmaiden, sex objects, angels or battle axes and the male are gender stereotyped as gay or weak. (Summer, 2017).Nursing profession is the biggest and fastest growing employment sectors globally for women with about 234 million workers (WHO, 2019). According to the state of the world’s Nursing report, Globally nurses are the largest group of health care worker contributing 28 million health work force based on data collected from 191 Countries (WHO, 2020).The report also indicated that 90% of nurses are female and the omission of data about entry salaries, investment in nursing education and gender wage gap is indicator of gender inequality in the profession. Rosemary Morgan, assistant scientist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health and School of Nursing said that nurses are discriminated at workplace on the basis of identity. With the Covide19 pandemic, gender inequality at work place has put female nurses at more risk than the male nurses with 73% of the health workers infected in the United State were the female nurses because of their employment position at a care giving roles. In Africa, 76% of nurses are women and the global gender inequality in Nursing has allowed the profession to follow a stereotype where in low and middle income countries; Nursing is considered second choice for those that have fail to make it to their preferred profession while in developed countries the low rate of men in Nursing is an indicator of how nursing is viewed globally said Emily Katarikawe, Uganda country Director of Jhpiego (WHO, 2020). There is also a large pay gap between the men and female in Nursing Profession where men are at the higher paying leadership position while the female are at the lower paying roles as stated by Michelle McIsaac, an Economist at WHO (WHO, 2020). In Uganda, most Nurses are female though men are joining the profession. According to the study done in Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, male nurses are seen as misplaced, misunderstood as practitioners from other discipline and are mistreated by the colleagues of the profession or other health care workers (Susan, 2016).
In Northern Uganda, there is no evidence of any similar study conducted as well in Gulu, Lira and Arua Cities, yet gender inequality affects the profession at all level of service delivery.
The specific objectives of the study was to assess the individual related factors influencing gender inequality in the nursing profession.
METHODOLOGY
The study methodology is the same as in the previous article, “the striking level of gender inequality in the nursing profession, a cross sectional study of selected hospitals and nurses training institution in the northern cities of Uganda”
Keywords
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