Professional closure: constructing the image of New Zealand nursing 1880-1940

The concept of professional closure is a sociological explanation for the way that professions limit their membership. From early in the nineteenth century the medical profession in New Zealand promoted exclusionary closure strategies which ensured their control over the other health-related occupational groups. This paper examines the way that professional closure has shaped the development of nursing in this country since Nightingale nurses arrived in New Zealand in the 1880s, and how professional closure effectively constructed the image of New Zealand nursing through the discourse of vocationism during the sixty year period 1880-1940.