Biography
Biography: Paul Jackson
Abstract
Gender and race can be regarded as the major organizing principles of the labour market, with disability, age and sexual orientation
being factors that also influence employment patterns and outcomes. These five dimensions of diversity are the main sources
of employment discrimination and disadvantage. This paper explores the male nursing student’s experience and considers whether
male discrimination and disadvantage takes place as they are a minority group within nursing. The research used a mixed methods
approach. It was conducted using semi-structured qualitative interviews on twelve respondents and two qualitative focus groups
containing six respondents. A quantitative email questionnaire sent to two hundred student nurses was also used. The respondents
were from a wide range of backgrounds, ages, cultures and levels of training. The findings showed that the male student nurses
experience was very mixed. This included issues relating to perceptions, attitudes, roles, barriers, challenges, negative experiences
and effects all relating to be a minority group subject to gender discrimination. Influences other than gender was noted to influence
their male experience such as age, culture, life experiences, confidence, personality and character traits. This research also identified
possible solutions to how male experience could be improved and what the benefits would be of having more male nurses in the
profession