Willa Cather and the spirit of nursing

Willa Cather, believed to be one of America's first feminist novelists, wrote of strong, Nebraskan women who, at the start of the Industrial Age, struggled to maintain their basic values as pioneers in the face of oppression. Similarly, many nurses today fight to retain their basic values as nurses in the face of oppression from the dominant medical culture. The values shared by Cather's pioneers and some nurses of today include utilizing a woman-identified perspective, achieving power through intimacy, and encompassing multiple ways of knowing. The journey of Cather and her characters is discussed as a model for fighting oppression by maintaining the core values of one's profession--be it as nurses or as pioneers.