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Introduction
In todays society, nursing is perceived as an excellent career of choice. How nurses are currently educated has contributed greatly towards nurses autonomy within their area of expertise. But despite these changes, many barriers surround the development of a knowledge base in nursing. Most of these barriers are related to gender issues. Thus, this paper discusses how the female gender has inhibited the growth of nursing as a knowledge-based profession.
Discussion
Stereotyping the nursing profession as a female profession is historically common in diverse regions across the globe. This has elicited studies that aim to evaluate diverse issues surrounding the nursing profession, and key amongst these issues include the development of nursing theories as a way of ensuring continuous development of knowledge within the discipline. Over the years, several factors have been considered as the main causes of poor theory-building strategies amongst the female gender. First, society considers women as people who are supposed to conform to knowledge rather than people who are supposed to create knowledge (Butts & Rich, 2010). Second, society considers women as people who have dual roles. This means that they have to balance their careers with their domestic chores (Butts & Rich, 2010).
Third, gender stereotype has dominated the minds of the nursing body of knowledge. It is for this reason that society perceives men as excellent in theory building. Contrary to this, society perceives women as excellent in implementation (Butts & Rich, 2010). Lastly, the relationships between nurses and doctors have raised questions concerning nursing as a scientifically based profession (Pera & Van, 2005). More so, this perception is worsened by advertisement strategies adopted by movie and television media, which try to suggest an intimate relationship between nurses and doctors. And since theory-building amongst the female nurses necessitates brainstorming ideas with specialized doctors, the chances for nurses to develop groundbreaking theories are often curtailed. However, affirmative action is one of the factors that have contributed greatly towards educating and promoting the female gender. Therefore, this begs one prime question: does the aspect of gender continue to limit the extent to which women are involved in theory building?
It is evident that women are now considered as organizational members who can handle cognitive matters through brainstorming sessions that are based on both formal and informal gatherings. This state of affairs creates an avenue for women to come up with groundbreaking theories in nursing. However, gender issues alone cannot explain the lack of capability to come up with groundbreaking theories. This is primarily because the female nurses are often faced with insecurities that are mainly based on social concerns (Meleis, 2011). For case in point, most female nurses are often insecure while handling patients from the Asian community since they tend to believe that the nurses white clothing is highly misinterpreted. This state of emotional thinking continues to create a challenge in the growth of nursing as a knowledge-based profession.
Conclusion
The argument presented in this paper points out that gender is one of the factors that have inhibited the development of knowledge base in nursing. The essay has also pointed out that despite the presence of affirmative action, which has helped the nurse to be considered as a major profession by women, the development of a knowledge base is still wanting. This state of affairs emanates from the presence of emotional insecurities amongst the female nurses. Thus, this essay has highlighted the need for adopting rational thinking as the solution for developing knowledge base theories in nursing.
Reference List
Butts, J., & Rich, K. (2010). Philosophies and Theories for Advanced Nursing Practice. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Learning, LLC.
Meleis, A. (2011). Theoretical nursing: Development and progress. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Pera, S., & Van, T. (2005). Ethics in health care. Lansdowne, South Africa: Juta.
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