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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 22. 1973

Nurses—The Doctors' Handmaidens

Nurses—The Doctors' Handmaidens

Up from Under header, with a raised fist

Nursing can be truthfully described as one of the most unliberated occupations for women in New Zealand. In spite of the fact that many nurses in the past one hundred years have been fighters and have wrought great changes and improvements in the care of the sick and other fields of social concern, the present image of the nurse is poor — she is the doctor's handmaiden, the professional mother or, more recently, a glorified technician.

The nursing system itself is trying desperately to change the image, but in what direction? The educational entry qualification is being raised, cutting out innumerable candidates who may not be scholarly but would make kind and excellent nurses. The status of the job is being valiantly propelled to professional level, the curriculum includes more and more theory, some relevant, some not, succeeding in turning out some "mini-doctors" but questionable nurses.

It seems that the image is being dragged further and further away from the bedside and people-orientation, to theory and status-orientation. Nurses are obviously aware of their second-class status and are trying to change it, but until they become aware of the basic reasons for it they will only succeed in achieving a new image at the expense of their patients.

Nurses in the last century have been predominantly female. Prior to this both men and women nursed the sick, either in a "freelance" capacity or as members of religious or charitable groups. Not until Florence Nightingale, against great odds and social disapproval, organised and made nursing both respectable and efficient, did the occupation become attractive as a career for women. The mawkish "Lady with the Lamp" reputation is the only one generally known, but in fact, Florence was a remarkable, strong and intelligent woman who not only established the Nightingale system of nurse training but also was instrumental in the introduction of changes within the British army. Her sojurn at Scutari was not merely the smoothing of fevered brows by lamplight either. The appalling physical conditions were matched only by the arrogant and unhelpful attitudes of the army officers who bitterly resented a woman interfering in army affairs.

Contemplation of the attitudes and social pressure faced by this radical woman in those times should help to raise the consciousness of nurses today and make them battle for liberation. All Florence's efforts did not succeed in breaking down the objections of medical men of the era to female nurses. Proof that they were 200% better (as women in an all male-dominated system need to be today) and the fact that they need be paid only Half as much as men, finally achieved acceptance by the (then) male doctors. Here was the start of male exploitation of female nurses.

The attitudes of male physicians is one of the problems in nursing today, the males being emphasised because they are predominant in the medical profession. Although more women are entering medicine these days there is not active encouragement, either from those involved in vocational guidance or from the medical profession itself. Methods of dissuation may not be as drastic as in the 1880's when male students threw pieces of human flesh at a female entering medicine, but nevertheless the usual forces, subtle and not so subtle are at work in perpetuating the myths against women entering male-dominated fields. For example, it is said that to train a woman as a doctor is a waste of money because she will probably get married, will not be able to stay the course, will be physically incapable of withstanding the demands made on her, will not be respected as much because people expect doctors to be men and so on.

Do doctors have so much influence on nursing? Doctors DO have a great deal of influence in many areas of our society, some completely unrelated to medicine, by virtue of their power over life and death. This power gives them an almost supernatural aura in the minds of the laymen. They certainly do have a great deal of say in nursing education and in the running of hospitals in spite of the fact that they occupy only one of the positions on the hospital team. They are therefore able to ensure that nurses are organised to suit their needs and the supposedly central figure of the health system, the patient often takes a backseat.

Up until now the lot of the female nurse has been the concern of this article. However, more and more men are entering nursing courses. This is good of course, to see the sex-role barriers breaking down, and for both men and women involved in the care of sick people. However, before too long - and this is happening already - the men will be occupying the top positions and the women will be subordinate. This situation already exists in other institutes in our society, because, of course, men are "more reliable", "don't get pregnant", are "less emotional" and "better administrators" 'and of course they Need the higher paying positions as they the breadwinners of families!

Wake up nurses - liberate nursing and make it a satisfying job for both men and women, but don't just sit back and let it be taken over! It is a shocking reflection on women in NZ nursing that the first radical breakaway group of nurses was formed in Auckland by a man. Where are the female activists in nursing? Florence we need you.

It would be simplistic to blame all the ills of nursing on the attitudes of the doctors. There are other sources of disatisfaction which are making large percentages of nurses drop out before finishing their courses, and causing many qualified women to be reluctant to practice. The roots of modern nursing lie in religion and the military system. These influences are still obvious today. The nurse who succeeds is a conformist. Nurses are required to do, not to think. Anyone who survives the three months of intensive brainwashing in preliminary training school where the most arrantly domineering treatment is rationalised (under the headings of "Hospital Courtesy" and "Ethics") as being necessary for the patient, and dares to protest, question or show any sort of initiative is persecuted and/or some way is found of dismissing her or him.

Moralistic attitudes prevail in the nurses' residences where trainees who have responsibility for the lives of many while on duty are treated as untrustworthy children when off duty. Petty rules and regulations are enforced in the interests of the patient. This form of emotional blackmail which is successfully used on nurses is ironic in that the patient is often the one who suffers as a result of it. Those nurses who stick out their training and emerge full of idealism, soon realise that no freedom has been gained. They are imprisoned in the boot-licking hierarchy, and they conform to the system or fall by the wayside.

Nurses could do so much to humanise the health system and to ensure much more satisfaction to sisters and brothers in the job. First they have to get rid of the mother/wife/subservient female image. The women (and this is aimed at women as they are still in the majority) must start seeing themselves as leaders and initiators, they must demand more respect and an equal status in the health system. The men entering the profession are not going to do it for them - far from it. The Women's Liberation Movement has gone a long way towards improving women's self-image and making them more effective human beings, a Nurses' Liberation Movement is needed to do the same for nurses.

Hazel Irvine