Are You Man Enough to be a Nurse? The Impact of Ambivalent Sexism and Role Congruity on Perceptions of Men and Women in Nursing Advertisements

Abstract

Framed by role congruity and ambivalent sexism, the current study is designed to investigate perceptions of male and female nurses. Specifically, 167 Canadian undergraduates from Southern Ontario viewed a potential nursing recruitment advertisement (female nurse, male nurse, or masculinity emphasized male nurse), reported their perceptions of the nurse in the advertisement, and rated the appropriateness of nursing as a career for men and women. MANOVAs revealed that participants viewed the male nurses more negatively (less competent and more deviant) in the masculinity emphasized condition than the male nurse condition, which is consistent with role congruity theory. Correlations further revealed that men in the male nurse condition and women in the masculinity emphasized condition who were higher in hostile sexism were more likely to rate the depicted male nurse as deviant than their lower scoring peers. Female participants rated nursing as a more appropriate career for men than did male participants, suggesting that resistance toward male nurses may stem primarily from other men. The ambivalent sexism scores of men and women related differently in each condition to ratings of the appropriateness of nursing as a career for men and women, suggesting a complex relationship between sexism and acceptance of male nurses. The findings imply that attempts to challenge current stereotypes by emphasizing the masculinity of men in female dominated careers may instead lead to perceptions of greater role incongruity-and more negative perceptions of men in these careers. Moreover, ambivalent sexism may be contributing to resistances toward men in nursing.

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