Gender role conflict in male nurses is an ongoing phenomenon despite the plethora of literature that identifies some of the barriers they experience. The social construction of Nursing being female often inhibits men from entering the profession. The stereotypical image of a male nurse is one of being a homosexual/gay effeminate a sexual deviant or possessing a “crisis of masculinity”. These studies predominately highlight the gender role socialisation imparted by society as to expected norms for boys and girls – masculine or feminine behaviours congruent with their gender-role and often for men Nursing is seen as not meeting this ideal. The aim of this exploratory study was to ascertain whether gender-role conflict exists in a cohort of 1st year male Nursing students.
