Work Culture and women's Social Recognition in Nursing Profession

我们实现了1998-1999年的两次实地调研。首先，我们对东京都一所大学医院的男护士进行了访谈。其次，我们对仙台一家公立医院的200名男护士和女护士进行了问卷调查。在2000-2001年间，我们对实地调查的结果进行了分析，并撰写了一份86页的报告。结论如下：(1)许多护士选择护理专业是因为它的社会认同感，但大多数护士结婚后就停止了工作。我们认为，尽管他们的工作动机相对较高，但他们很难建立职业生涯。这种职业活动的中断将构成建立护士职业地位的一个重要问题。通过对男护士访谈的语篇分析，我们发现了社会建构的一个维度，即男女之间的差异。我们注意到，一些护士表达了对男性在女性职业中的优势的争论。作为一个典型案例，男性护士认为，男性能够根据他们的能力继续他们的职业活动，这不仅是文化的，也是生物的。因此，性别分工仍然是护士职业化的障碍。我们可以提出一个假设，即为了实现真正职业的工作文化，性别维度将被解构。这一假说源于对护理职业的研究，可以扩展到女性的其他职业活动。

We realized two field researches 1998 to 1999. Firstly, we conducted interviews with male nurses in an university hospital situated in Tokyo Metropolitan Area. Secondly, we conducted a survey research, using a questionnaire, with 200 females and males nurses in a public hospital situated at a big local city, Sendai. In the years 2000-2001, we analyzed the results of the field researches and wrote a report of 86 pages.For our conclusion, two points are given below :(1) Many nurses choose the nursing profession for the reason of its social recognition, but almost nurses stop working when they get married. We consider that it is difficult for them to construct a professional career in spite of their relatively high motivation for working. This interruption of professional activity will constitute an important problem for establishing a professional status of nurses. It is supposed that this can also contribute to lowering their salary.(2) Through discourse analysis of the interviews with male nurses, we discovered a dimension of social construction concerning differences between men and women. We noticed that some nurses express arguments of the advantage of masculinity in the female profession. A male nurses as a typical case argues that men are capable to continue their professional activity in terms of their competences, which are not only cultural but also biological.The sexual division of labor, then, remains an obstacle to the professionalization of nurses. We can present a hypothesis that the gendered dimension is to be deconstructed for realizing the work culture of a true profession. This hypothesis derived from the study of nursing profession can be enlarged to other professional activities of women.