Sexist stereotypes in portuguese nursing: A historical study in the period 1935 to 1974

Almeida, Deybson Borba de; Queirós, Paulo Joaquim Pina; Silva, Gilberto Tadeu Reis da; Laitano, Aline Di Carla; Almeida, Sirléia de Sousa

doi:10.5935/1414-8145.20160030

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RESEARCH • Esc. Anna Nery 20 (2) • Apr-Jun 2016 • https://doi.org/10.5935/1414-8145.20160030 copy

Sexist stereotypes in portuguese nursing: A historical study in the period 1935 to 1974

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Gender may be understood as a historical construction, defined plurally and historically.

Objective:

To identify sexist stereotypes of Portuguese nursing in the period 1935 to 1974.

Methods:

Historical investigation with a qualitative approach. The session diaries of Portugal's National Assembly and Corporative Chamber were used as a database for this study.

Results:

The findings configured the following analytical categories: the influence of the Armed Forces on the profession and military nursing, gender as a social formation, and nursing as a female area of work, exploitation of nursing work, gender as social formation and nursing as auxiliary knowledge, and nursing as a priesthood.

Conclusions:

We assert the need to understand nursing as work, marked by historical and cultural contexts, such that it may be possible to think about paths towards the valorization and social recognition of the work of the nurse.

Keywords:
Nursing; Gender identity; History; Feminism

Source	How described	Analysis
1935	[...] In the health service, the length of service referred to in condition 2 (To have a minimum of one year of service, subject to being appointed to a rank, at junior NCO level) of the present article may be undertaken either entirely or partially by junior NCOs, nurses or pharmacy staff. [...]	Influence of the Armed Forces on the profession and military nursing
1938	[...] Regarding the importance of introducing in the schools the practice of manual work, with a program of female and male works. [...] For girls, the practice of sewing and others is suggested [...] Given that women, when housewives, will need to know something of everything, cooking, sewing, nursing, the decorative arts, etc. [...]	Gender as a social formation and nursing as female field of work
1939	[...] That foreign missions may possess exclusive hospitals and health clinics [...] Nurses [...] in good conditions so as to more efficiently obtain their aims.[...]	The exploitation of nursing work

Source	How described	Analysis
1941	[...] It is said that the financial situation of the male and female nurses is very poor [...]The time taken by the nurse to arrive in a leadership position [...] in the best of cases is three years [...]The nurse will work, dedicated to serving his fellow man, risking his health amid unhappinessand subject to contagions for approximately 13 years in order to reach the position of chief nurse, earning the same amount – apart from deputy chiefonward - as a porter or some servants.[...]	Exploitation of the nursing work
1944	[...] Emphasizes that these women who undertake nursing in hospitals offer an example of self-denial which professionals rarely reach, even the best. [...]	Nursing as Priesthood
	[...] the need to train more female nurses with severity of recruitment, the discipline and the moral environment of the corporation in which they entermay kindle within them the spirit of tender devotion [...]	Influence of the Armed Forces on the profession and military nursing
	[...] A visiting nurse who, as well as social work and visiting, will assist the doctors of the various departments.[...] [...]A visiting nurse who will assist the doctors of the various departments[...]	Gender as a social formation and nursing as auxiliary knowledge
1945	[...] That in the female nursing services of this hospital, in the future, only single female candidates, or widows without children, will be admitted [...] Those who presently do not have children will have to cease hospital work [...] when in the future they come to have them [...] and when they marry.[...]	Nursing as Priesthood The exploitation of the nursing work
	[...] There are male nurses who normally work 12 hours and sometimes up to 19 hours in 24 [...] This being because they are married and have two children and receive a[...] family allowance. In a ward with 120 – and sometimes more – patients, during the night there may be one assistant and one nurse, who receives generously two decilitersof coffee during the night, but nothing to eat, as this staff do not have the right to a meal.[...]	The exploitation of the nursing work
	[...] Regarding the training of the nurses, it is very complex; it involves principally two trainings: the technical training and the moral training [...]It is asserted that not having morals causes inconveniences which are immensely greater than not having technique. [...]	Nursing as Priesthood
	[...] Such that each rural boroughmay possess at least one first aid station, under the leadership of an honest and competent male nurse, directly subordinate to the council doctor. [...]	Nursing as Priesthood

Source	How described	Analysis
1951	[...] They impede marriage for the hospital nurses, stating that nurses who are wives or mothers will sacrifice to the heavy schedules of the hospital work [...] The legislator does not judge this to be compatible with the duties of the wife and mother [...] Promotion is prohibited to these nurses whose work is mitigated due to their being married. [...]	Nursing as Priesthood
1951	[...] argued in favor of revoking the law which prohibited nurses from marrying and those who have children, such as widows, from exercising the profession. He judges the law to be anticonstitutional, wounding the family institution, and leading to abortions and that not even the Church itself agrees, as there have been cases of nurses marrying illegally. [...]	Nursing as Priesthood
1952	[...] Yet again, in the debate, emphasis is placed on the positioning of the nurse-manager, who is always forbiddingthe attending of these patients. [...]	Influence of the Armed Forces on the profession and military nursing
1954	[...] The main homage made is directed to D. João de Deus, a notable figure as priest and missionary [...] who, in the hard hours of the war, was a selfless nurseof souls and bodies.[...]	Nursing as priesthood
	[...] as dedicarted nurseswho care for bodies without forgetting the souls. [...]
	[...] An appeal was made through the press, radio and television for unoccupied girls and women to help the nurses in the hospitals which are short of staff.[...]
1955	[...] The orator continues to discuss the right of the womanto exercise any function outside the family, such as education and teaching, social services and nursing [...]	Gender as a social formation and nursing as a female field of work
1955	[...] A nurse, who will help the doctor and undertake his instructions for the treatment of the patients [...]	Gender as a social formation and nursing as auxiliary knowledge
1956	[...] In effect, the nurse needs to have knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, pathology, hygiene etc.[...] so as to understand well the reach of the doctor's instructions [...]	Gender as a social formation and nursing as auxiliary knowledge
	[...] Relationship of nursing with Self-denial. According to the orator, lay nursing, in the French Revolution, drove awaycharity [...]	Nursing as priesthood
	[...] The importance of the Nursing actions, the history of Nursing based in charity and the priesthood.[...]	Nursing as priesthood
	[...] The reason for this shortage of nurses: The lack of schools and the paywhich does not correspond to the intellectual level and the sacrifice required. [...]	Nursing as priesthood The exploitation of the nursing work

Source	How described	Analysis
	[...] Psychiatric nursing, said to be essentially specialized, continues to require virtue, civic-mindedness and, increasingly, a high professional level and high moral training of its professionals. [...]	Influence of the Armed Forces on the profession and military nursing Nursing as Priesthood
1967	[...] (speaking of the shortage of staff and overloading of work) making the profession harder and, certainly, the care for the patient less efficacious [...]	The exploitation of the nursing work
1967	[...] In dealing with voluntary female military service, it is foreseen in the proposal that women also may be admitted to undertake military service, as volunteers. [...] It is suggested that women may be called to care work in the rearguard with the wounded and ill [...]	Influence of the Armed Forces on the profession and military nursing
1968	[...] Does not understand that women may kill, but understands that they may relieve suffering [...] as nurses. [...]	Gender as a social formation and nursing as female knowledge

Source	How described	Analysis
1970	[...] The position of deputy chief nursewas being undertaken by an auxiliary nurse, and in other cases these jobs were empty [...] It was revealed that the lack of professionals is caused because many go abroad, others marry and leave the profession, retire, and move to private healthcare centers, because these pay better [...]	The exploitation of the nursing work
1971	[...] The lack of nurses for providingcare necessary to the patient [...] removal of general nursing staff to management roles [...]	Gender as a social formation and nursing as auxiliary knowledge The exploitation of nursing work

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[1] Corresponding author: Aline Di Carla Laitano. E-mail: alinelaitano@yahoo.com.br