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Comment by city41 | Hacker News Reader

9.6% of all RNs are male [0]

Why is there not a male nurse initiative? Or male elementary teacher initiative[1]?

I have to admit, I am strongly against things like "Girls who code". If there truly are issues in our culture that prevent girls from looking into coding, then absolutely let's get rid of those as best we can. But a girl can look into and explore coding just as easily as a boy can. There's really nothing stopping them. I have a few male nurse friends too. Nothing stopped them either, they simply found nursing interesting and pursued it. There might simply be fewer female coders because they tend to not be interested in this profession, same as male nurses.

[0] -- http://www.minoritynurse.com/minority-nursing-statistics [1] -- http://www.menteach.org/resources/data_about_men_teachers

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Why is there not a male nurse initiative? Or male elementary teacher initiative[1]?

There are! It's just not discussed on HN because this isn't a site focused on nursing and teaching, but copying from a prior post of mine, 45 seconds of Googling brought up http://www.malenursemagazine.com http://www.menteach.org/ and http://www.minoritynurse.com/article/recruiting-men-nursing-....

malenursemagazine.com seems to be a spam/product placement blog

menteach.org has a (C) of 2007, and a dead forum.

Some more up-to-date links:

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/mar/23/advocates-say...

http://aamn.org

http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/enhanci...

Why is there not a male nurse initiative?

Did you actually look?

http://www.gatewayct.edu/Programs-Courses/Divisions-Departme...

http://www.minoritynurse.com/article/man-enough-20-x-20-choo...

http://aamn.org/choosenursing.shtml

Likewise the male teachers of younger children.

You're correct. I did not look. And it does make sense that they would exist.

Yeah, maybe my original comment was wrong. Maybe my view on this is wrong. I will admit seeing the male nurse initiatives does give me a different perspective on this.

This comment sets a good example.

Best comment in this thread.

That's 3x as many as there were 20 years ago. What does the trendline look like for software development? (I don't know; it's a serious question).

For graduates, as a percentage, it's down. That's all I've seen numbers for anyway.

> Why is there not a male nurse initiative?

There are male nurse initiatives, e.g., [1].

> Or male elementary teacher initiative?

There are those, too [2].

There's even specifically (ethnic) minority male teacher initiatives. [3]

The fact that you are ignorant of something and haven't even done a simple Google search to look into it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[1] http://www.minoritynurse.com/article/recruiting-men-nursing-...

[2] http://www.menteach.org/

[3] http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/09/shortage_of_minorit...

Maybe you're not old enough, but I am and I remember a huge stigma against men who wanted to become nurses because it was a job "for women" and what kind of man would want to do that kind of thing.

> huge stigma against men who wanted to become nurses because it was a job "for women" and what kind of man would want to do that kind of thing.

...and that's exactly the kind of label that women slaps on tech jobs. "What kind of woman would want to {drive race cars,work 60 hour weeks coding,debug java threads,maintain virtual server farms}"

And there you have it. It's clearly the oppressive white males' fault.

It's clearly the oppressive white males' fault.

The general public have no idea what "debug java threads" or "maintain virtual server farms" means, and being a programmer isn't particularly associated with long work days. It's also quite a stretch to call driving a race car a 'tech job'.

I think you need to reconsider your perspective on the issue.

"and that's exactly the kind of label that women slaps on tech jobs"

what kind of world are you living in because it's not one I've visited.

Actually it is what I remember from most girls in high school (late nineties): they want to work "with people instead of machines". It's a stigma that existed then in girls' minds and presumably still does, at least where I live.

I'm all for more women in tech, even if only to make the workforce more diverse. I'm also all for more minorities in tech, sure. Where I live, working in a tech job means 95% of youf colleagues will be white, male, middle class thirty-year olds.

But I have a gut feeling that at least in my environment, it's the fault of young women's mindset, not of "the system".

That's not at all the same kind of thing. Here's some male nurses talking about their experiences: http://allnurses.com/nursing-career-advice/you-ashamed-being...

""" I'm not "ashamed" of being an RN but it's hard when you are a guy and around other people that are uninformed about nursing. I dont use the term "nurse" because many people associate that term with a variety of menial jobs. I tell them I'm an RN. Even that doesnt register with many people. Of course being a guy I'm always asked "when are you starting med school?" or I get a veiled smirk and they say something like "oh you're a male nurse.." as if I'm a pariah or something. """

Looking at it in terms of "fault" is particularly unhelpful -- and irrelevant to what most organizations, including the one that is the subject of this thread, looking to break down cultural barriers are doing.

Maybe we should be asking why so many boys are being pressured into hacking?

I don't know why you're getting downvoted. The question you ask is a good one, though you are jumping to some conclusions. I think it may very well be that there should be a "male nurse initiative", or at least that the lack of one doesn't somehow dictate the ethics and obligations of our field.

Possibly I am jumping to conclusions. I have nothing against females in tech. I strongly believe anyone should be able to pursue whatever they want.

My local hacker's space hosts coding dojos to teach children how to code. There is no special treatment given to girls in these. Everyone is welcome and encouraged. The dojo organizers are conscious of making sure there is a good representation of female teachers/mentors in the program. That is a different -- and more effective -- approach to this issue. The difference seems subtle, yet it's key.

I'm male and I knit. It's something my Mom taught me when I was young and it's stuck with me. Yet I hate when my gender is made such a big deal here. I'm not a male knitter, I'm just a knitter. I don't want to talk about my gender and how great it is I have pursued this hobby, I want to talk about the hobby. I can't help but think females would feel similar to programs like this.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6530237

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