Feminism and nursing

Feminism provides a personal, philosophic and political means for analyzing the realities of women's lives as lived in patriarchal systems. It is not a single line of thought; multiple approaches have been developed that provide diverse avenues for confronting systematic injustices while learning to value ourselves as women. Jo Ann Ashley, recognizing that new realities must emerge from within nursing rather than from other groups, states: "For many years we have heard that nursing is at the crossroads. Nursing never seems to get over being at a crossroads. Indeed, nursing has been at a crossroads many times, but instead of taking a new road, leaders in the profession always choose to continue bearing the burden of continuing to live out the subservient role under the patriarchal system, rather than taking a new road that can lead beyond patriarchy. Nursing is no longer at a crossroads. It is at a turning point. It needs to turn away from being the "token torturer" of itself and other women. It needs to turn toward the health awaiting women in a woman-defined, woman-created world that lies beyond patriarchal ideas and institutions." Movement in this direction requires becoming familiar with feminist literature and the insights that women scholars have provided. In nursing, a feminist perspective requires an uncompromising questioning of the forces that divide us from one another, the ethics of our actions, and our co-optation into the unhealthy environment of the current health care system.