Professional Identity of Nurses in Türkiye: Men's Entry Into a Female-Dominated Profession

To explore how men's entry into nursing is reshaping perceptions of the profession's identity in Türkiye, and to examine critically whether this shift de-genders the profession or subtly re-masculinises it.

Research on gendered occupations has focused predominantly on women entering male-dominated fields, while the renegotiation of nursing's identity following men's entry remains underexplored. Studies in Türkiye have also relied largely on nurses' own accounts. Because professional identity is constructed relationally, understanding this transformation requires the simultaneous perspectives of multiple healthcare actors.

An exploratory qualitative design reported in line with COREQ was employed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in one province of Türkiye with 40 purposively sampled participants: nurses (5 male and 5 female), physicians (5 male and 5 female), and patients and their relatives (10 male and 10 female). Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke's six-phase hybrid (deductive-inductive) thematic analysis with MAXQDA 2020.

Four themes were generated: professional and personal competence; acceptance of professional identity; integration into the profession; and customising/transforming professional identity. Participants defined nursing identity through their own situational needs, with patients emphasising communication and a 'light hand' (administering injections painlessly), and physicians prioritising technical proficiency. Male nurses were positioned through physical strength, calmness and protection, and were excluded from obstetric, gynaecological and neonatal settings on privacy grounds, whereas female nurses were framed through maternal and emotional attributes. Participants also reported ambiguity in addressing male nurses, alongside a paradox whereby nurses described their occupation as low-status while patients regarded it as 'sacred'.

Within this study context, men's entry appears to widen nursing's feminised boundaries without neutralising gender norms; participants' narratives suggest that gender essentialism is reproduced in a 'hybrid' form. The optimistic 'genderless profession' discourse may mask a subtle re-masculinisation, since perceived status gains seem tied to masculinised attributes rather than to a revaluation of care labour.

Increasing male representation alone is unlikely to achieve structural equality. Regulators, policymakers, and nursing education institutions should adopt gender-neutral professional titles and forms of address, detach competencies from essentialist gender roles in curricula and workforce planning, avoid gender-based task allocation, and develop culturally sensitive responses to patient privacy expectations.