Swimming against the malestream: men choosing nursing as a career

This article reports on one aspect of a larger study, which used qualitative methods to critically explore the social construction of men as nurses. It draws upon literature pertaining to gender and nursing, and interviews with 18 New Zealand men to describe the factors underpinning decisions to turn away from malestream occupations and enter a profession stereotyped as 'women's work'. Five thematic groupings are revealed to be significant with respect to the decision-making process: formative experiences, the Call, expediency, personal acquaintance with a nurse and personal fulfilment. These factors, however, do not necessarily operate in isolation. The reasons for becoming nurses are complex and multifactorial. In comparison to the experiences reported in the international literature, the men in this study were more focused on human caring and the transformational potential for personal fulfilment rather than a focus on the barriers to their engagement with nursing.