Male Doctors, Female Nurses: Subconscious Stereotypes Hard to Budge

Live Science ^ | 6/20/2016 | Stephanie Pappas

[garyb]

But yet, is a stereotype a stereotype if indeed it is true.

In general a doctor is more likely to be a male than a female by 2:1

And, a nurse is more likely to be a female than a male by 9.5:1

Thus a random pair up of a Jonathan and an Elizabeth walking to a hospital room, are more likely to be Doctor and Nurse than the reverse?

http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/physicians-by-gender/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D

http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/human-capital-and-risk/gender-ratio-of-nurses-across-50-states.html

[yarddog]

That can’t be right. On TV nearly all Dr.’s are female and Black females at that.

The few male Dr.’s are also Black or some minority.

[ConservativeDude]

I remember a few years ago, one of my daughters, she was like 6 or maybe 7, heard someone described as a “Male Nurse.”

She was howling with laughter, and kept repeating, “A male nurse!” as if that whole idea was completely preposterous!

Which was itself hilarious, b/c we had certainly never said anything like that around her. Somehow she just got the vibe that men are doctors, and women are nurses. And a male nurse is some kind of freak show!

[Dr. Sivana]

Heck, I would still prefer that nurses dress like nurses, so we can tell them apart from orderlies, physician’s assistants, etc.

[IronJack]

I admit that I struggle with the concept of “male nurse.” It must because the noun is also a verb ... a very feminine verb.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Can I ask a stupid question?

Why does any of this matter?

We know that, while uncommon, that men can be nurses. And we know women can be doctors. So why is this so fascinsting to the authors of this article???

[Parmy]

We switched from a male dr. to a female dr. because the male dr. was no longer going to service medicare recipients.

The female dr. that we now see is so much more thorough and professional than the male dr. that we had. Plus, she is a kick in the pants.

[Clutch Martin]

I spent a great deal of time in and around the military over the years and one takeaway is that the military is a great equalizer... anybody can be anything if they work at it.

Having experienced that equality I have noticed that the civilian sector has lagged behind.

[IronJack]

Only the competent ones ... The bungling, greedy, imperious clod doctors are all white males.

[Scythian_Reborn]

We know that, while uncommon, that men can be nurses. And we know women can be doctors. So why is this so fascinsting to the authors of this article???

Because if the author can show some kind of gender discrimination or some kind of non-acceptance of man in a woman's role he can gin up views and increase his stature in the bizarre circle the author runs in ...

[AndyTheBear]

The stereotype acts like a "mental firewall" that seems to prevent people from updating their subconscious attitudes with the facts, said Jack Cao, a graduate student in psychology at Harvard University in Massachusetts.

Seems this Jack Cao has a mental firewall about facts.

If people have a subconscious anticipation of the male being more likely to be the doctor and the female the nurse, its because this fits the experience people have and forms an expectation. This is not any kind of fault of the person, its just the way that the irrational part of our mind works to form expectations for us. People do not go around all day reasoning out every expectation in our daily lives....we simply expect some things to be a certain way without thinking as we concentrate on the things that have our attention. When something is different than this expectations, then it grabs our attention and we attend to it.

To the extent people tell a researcher after thinking about it that either is equally likely to be a doctor or nurse it is because they are being trained to either be dishonest or use unsound reason or judgement for the sake of social pressure....this is the real "mental firewall" here.

[wbill]

Except for Alan Alda, and he might as well be female.

[ConservativeDude]

oh, I’m not actually “gender biased” in reality at all. seriously conservative, but I’m perfectly happen with girl doctors! (and male nurses!).

I just thought it was funny

[wbill]

One of my friends is a "male nurse". Specializes in orthopedics, if I understand correctly.

He's a former combat medic. Tough hombre.

[Uversabound]

So why is this so fascinsting to the authors of this article???

Been working here for 28 years.

Does that help?

LOL

FREEPERS!

[BitWielder1]

Nobody complains when we assume a janitor or trash collector is male.
I know full well both women and men can be found in almost any profession but as long as the probability is significantly more than 50%, I will assume, for the sake of expediency, that Doctor is probably Male, Nurse is probably Female but I won't be surprised or upset when I'm wrong.

[Political Junkie Too]

Why is breastfeeding called "nursing" a baby, and not "doctoring" a baby?

-PJ

[Billthedrill]

I think psychologists place far too much emphasis on cultural conditioning as a determinative factor in this sort of decision. If it’s a function of simple observation, it isn’t a stereotype. If I see ten male cops and one female, and someone asks me the same question, I’m going to guess that the unknown cop is a male, not because I’m making a sexist assumption that all cops have to be male but because most of them actually are.

[I want the USA back]

It’s not a stereotype, idiot. A higher percentage of doctors are men, and a higher percentage of nurses are women. Undeniable fact.
Same with suicide bombers, rapists, and murderers. The mind is not prejudiced - it’s just acting on observed events.

[JusPasenThru]

Almost all of the new doctors on staff at my hospital are women. I’m hoping my son goes to nursing school. I must really be messed up.