Harnessing the Collective Power of Gender Equity and Diversity in Nursing

Abstract

1 Introduction

Equity and diversity are increasingly recognised as critical issues in the nursing profession. One important focus has been gender equity (Padgett 2024). As a female-dominated profession, nursing has benefitted from feminist advocacy, which has played an important role in addressing systemic inequities and advancing the rights of women in nursing (Chinn 1985). However, as more men choose nursing as a career, contradictory debates have ensued about the relative advantages or disadvantages faced by men compared to women (Padgett 2024). These include claims of disadvantage and inequity for men, who make up the minority of nurses (comprising about 10% worldwide) (World Health Organization (WHO) 2020). On the other hand, there are assertions of systemic privileges for men, evidenced by advantages in pay and career progression within nursing (Punshon et al. 2019; Doleman et al. 2024). Although claims of systemic disadvantages for men are less robust, they are persistently articulated in the nursing literature (Padgett 2024).

While addressing pay and career progression disparities remains a priority, we argue in this paper that building a more equitable and inclusive profession, and tackling oppressive systems and hierarchies, requires embracing a more nuanced understanding of gender relations and gender diversity. Importantly, we argue that a simplistic and dichotomous view of gender risks obscuring pressing equity issues related to the dynamic and sometimes abrasive intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality and other social structures (Carbado et al. 2013) and overlooks nurses' personal agency in resisting structural power dynamics to support gender equity (Fisher 2006). Moreover, gender is not binary, and trans and gender-diverse people are increasingly seeking visibility, recognition and equity within the nursing profession (Kellett and Fitton 2016; Quinn et al. 2021). Therefore, we argue that the focus of nursing should be on cultivating a reflexive and inclusive culture and addressing systemic inequity for nurses from diverse backgrounds, including those related to pay disparities, underrepresentation in leadership and unequal access to opportunities.