From the humble beginnings of the nursing profession, its practitioners have been primarily women. In an age when women were not encouraged to pursue a career and employment options were heavily restricted, women could don the uniform of a nurse and begin a respected career. Considered to be natural caregivers from birth, women's maternal instincts lead them from nursing babies, caring for children, and eventually caring for the elderly.

Although women outnumber men in the nursing profession today, this was not always the case. Men in the military traditionally cared for the sick. In parts of the Arab world, only men were considered capable of public nursing. The first school of nursing, founded around 250 B.C. in India, only accepted men. Men only were considered to be pure enough to touch patients, women were not. They were trained in every aspect of care, including: cooking, bathing, feeding, massaging limbs, assisting in walking and movement, and making beds. For years men were the main medical practitioners, delivering care to patients and nursing the sick back to health.

This trend continued into the Byzantine Empire, the Crusades, and most military ventures. Men were given the task of moving wounded soldiers off the field and taking care of their injuries. Women were rarely on the battlefield, and the task naturally fell to other soldiers and men in general. Organizations were formed during the medieval periods for the purpose of patient care. These organizations were run entirely by men. The Parabolani of Rome was a small group of men who risked their lives by caring for the sick and burying the dead. They were a Christian Brotherhood of the Early Church, who set a precedent for early nursing practices.

Knighthood orders commonly employed professionals who would care for the sick and injured. The Knights Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem was arguably the first official hospital for the infirm. The Alexian Brotherhood, founded in the 1400s, continues to combine work for God with care for the sick.

During the American civil war, countless nursing volunteers cared for the soldiers wounded in battle. Both the Confederate and the Union Armies had teams of nurses – male and female – contributing to the war effort. Although mostly the women are noted as nurses, there were hundreds of men who gave much needed medical attention to fallen soldiers. Walt Whitman, a famous writer and poet, left his pursuit of the literary arts in favor of nursing. Even though a number of men such as Whitman ventured into the nursing profession, their numbers would decline in Europe and North America for over a century.

Nursing experienced a dramatic shift with the advent of Florence Nightingale and her reforms, and male involvement in nursing would never quite recover. Nightingale emerged as a leading medical figure during the Crimean War in 1853. Nightingale revolutionized nursing and women's roles within the profession. Nursing became viewed as a maternal career, rooted in spirituality and Victorian ideals. The nurturing aspects of nursing began to produce an image of femininity, thereby excluding men from nursing. Women were considered to be natural caregivers, and men were simply not endowed with the characteristics necessary for quality care.

It was not until the turn of the century that the nursing population was made of up of women. The organizations formed by female nurses in the 20th century worked to exclude males from the profession, especially during war times. The military history of nurses was played out by women who cared for male soldiers. Up to the Korean War, male Registered Nurses would enlist in the army, or were recruited, but they were never assigned as a nurse.

Because of this change in perspective men were rarely seen in the nursing profession. It would take approximately 100 years to change this gendered view of nursing, and it continues to be a battle. In the 1960s and 1970s, when the workforce started opening for women, men experienced the same growth of opportunities into predominately female professions. Since this time, there has been an increase in demand for nurses, and a consequent increase in pay, resulting in more men applying for entry into nursing schools.

When men were finally accepted into the military as nurses, their numbers had declined in both military and civilian practices. Today, however, men make up a significant portion of practicing nurses in the military. Across the Army, Navy, and Air Force, men are approximately 30-40% of the nursing population.

In the 1960s, male nurses were often excluded from certain duties that were deemed inappropriate for their gender. They were not allowed entry into a delivery room, and sometimes were forbidden to care for female patients. Stereotypes created men as needing care, never distributing it. Women were the caregivers, and men were only featured in textbooks.

Male nurses have also been faced with assumptions on their masculinity. Society concludes that any male who wishes to enter a predominately female profession, in a feminine role, and surrounded by female co-workers, must be a homosexual. Fortunately, as more men graduate from nursing schools these stereotypes are dwindling. As the percentage of men in nursing continues to grow, the stereotypes about their sexuality will most certainly disappear.

Regardless of these current gender issues in hospitals, men have made considerable contributions to the nursing profession in the last century, and throughout history. Their role in nursing continues to change with the times, leaving us only to guess at what nursing will look like in the years to come.

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