'Sister' in nursing is sexist

[BollardDodger]

All traditionally male orientated jobs these days have gender-neutral terms - chair instead of chairman; police officer instead of policeman/woman; firefighter etc. So why in nursing are 'Sisters' still called that rather than the gender-neutral term Charge Nurse? Why are female orientated jobs not subjected to the same political correctness restrictions as male orientated jobs?

We have Sisters and Matrons.

I agree, they seem very outdated terms.

Yet another thing for the 'few' to be offended about!

I was in hospital in February, definitely sister was running the ward. It was on her name badge, ward information sheet and on notice on the wall ie any complaints ask to speak to Sister name.

Does anyone remember that programme
Sons and Daughters?

No idea why this thread reminded me of that. Were there nurses in it? I think there was.

Yeah midwife means "with woman" doesn't it?

Yes it does. The gender reference applies to the woman being cared for rather than the person undertaking the role, so men are called midwives too.

All ward managers where I work....and the matrons can be men or women ...

I don't understand why people would get worked up about this. It's just a name!

We have sisters here (band 6). We also have matron and midwife.
I guess each trust is different.

I think it is just the op it is winding up nobody else seems that bothered.

In Sweden the term nurse is female-gendered and is now used for both men and women, so a rare example of a female word being used as the neutral form. #quiteinteresting?

What if........ the expectant mother is not a 'wife' though ? could the attendant be called a 'MidWoman' instead, better still if the expectant person identifies as male???? it could throw up all sorts. Fun times ahead!

I seriously couldn't give a rats ass what they're called. Do people really get wound up over such things?!

Sister - female
Charge nurse - male

To be honest I think in nursing were all abit obsessed with job titles way too much, if theres a standardised uniform patients will know whos who and doing a good job is way more important than whatever your title is

I suppose if women get upset about chairman then male nurses might get upset about being a sister. If one is unreasonable so is the other.

Well male nurses hate it. Unsurprisingly.

The reason it was gotten rid of in Ireland is that there are so many men entering the profession.

If I was entering a profession where being promoted meant I was called "Brother" I'd be a bit too. It should be obsolete. There's no reason to keep it. It's not an exclusively female profession and hasn't been in decades.

In the hospital where my DD is there are sister nurses and it immediately struck me as sexist and outdated.

And as for the places where there are two titles for two different genders for doing the exact same job?!

Ludicrous.

Wife is an ancient word for woman

There are male nurses op I am curious what you would call them?

Charge nurse is the male 'version' here.

Called managers here . Directors of nursing are head of health care group or a hospital. Never heard of sister used in this way.

Doesn't it come from the fact that many nuns were nurses or teachers?

This topic is quite interesting but it does vary from trust to trust. I work on a neonatal unit as a 'sister' which is how you address Band 6 and above. Prior to this you are a staff nurse. However our male nurses won't be called sisters they would continue to be addressed as staff nurse or lead/charge nurse dependant on their banding etc. We also have both men and women addressed as a Matron.

I'm a sister! (Band 7) in the A+E department, sister is my job title and that's what the staff refer to me as!
Our staff never call us by our actual names, we are called "sister", our patients and relatives call us sister too. I think it's a very old dated thing but there you go.

We have 1 male that's called a "charge nurse" and a matron too.

I think the term Sister comes from the olden days when members of religious orders and churches such as nuns provided medical care. Nursing as it was, was the providence of religion until Florence Nightingale and military nurses moved nursing away from churches and religious orders.

It does seem like an outdated term - some trusts still use "Sister" to denote senior or specialist nurses, and I have been a Sister in primary care (some of my older patients thought I was also a nun!). But many trusts have dropped it and use other terminology now.

I don't think it's sexist as much as old fashioned. Historically nurses were female.