ABSTRACT
Male nursing trainees often experience discrimination during training or practice or both at the individual and institutional levels. This gender imbalance deprives the nursing profession of diversity, which is crucial in the nursing workforce. Sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted with male trainee nurses to show how gender prescriptions impact students’ experiences in higher education institutions. The findings indicate that although more males are seeking higher education in the nursing profession, internalized and enacted gender-based factors created unfriendly and uncomfortable environments for them. They faced challenges in their relationship with their tutors and preceptors on the wards, and patients and their relatives. Male trainee nurses are confronted with biased performance expectations where they are expected to do better than their female counterparts in certain courses and with certain tasks on the wards. Additionally, unchanging structures and conventions in the nursing training institutions tend to hinder their progression in the nursing profession. We therefore recommend that nursing tutors undergo pedagogical training on how to be gender sensitive. Higher education leaders should undertake policy and infrastructure changes to make the teaching and learning environment more welcoming to male students and ensure that minority groups in their institutions are treated fairly and equally.
