gender issues

[febble]

I work in a mixed sex residential home for adults, I've been told there has to be a female on duty with a male, but have observed that there are often females on duty without a male, this implies, to me, that male staff are assumed to be a risk, but females arent. Is this unfair discrimination?

Hmmmm I'd say that it was total and absolute discrimination against the male workers if the rationale was risk but not if the rationale was more about choice for residents but then this wouldn't extend to choice for male residents.
convoluted sentence sorry :-)

apparently males have to have the option of having a chaperone if they think a resident might make an accusation against them, but what if a male [or female] resident made an accusation against a female staff?

When I've worked in care, male staff only do male personal care & females do both. Is it something like that?

kind of, all staff are involved with all residents, who can choose male or female staff support, some male staff (I'm ok working alone) want a chaperone, female staff do the chaperoning (sp?) but females staff often work without a male on duty, male staff never work without a female on duty.

I think it implies that women are seen as "carers" and men aren't - unless they are odd in some way. So it is fine for a female to provide care to males, in the "traditional" nursing way, but it is dead odd for a man to provide the same care to a female. Male nurses, and particularly male MWs seem to be regarded with the same degree of suspicion....

And society and expectation also plays it part. I spent 2 weeks on the ante-natal ward and had a lovely male midwife attend to me. If he had been on duty whilst I was in labour, well I wouldn't have cared less to be quite honest. But if I was ill in hospital otherwise, would I have wanted say, a bed bath from a male nurse....er no! It makes no sense on a logical basis....but it is still there....it is in my upbringing within a patriarchal society that "normal" men wouldn't do it.....
Sad really...

I dont think we're seen as 'odd', to be fair, we do get involved in female's care - I've dealt with personal hygiene issues/periods etc,- its just that, apparently, females have to have choice of female, but if there's no male on, noone gets a choice of male (males are outnumbered about 2-3) again, to be fair, we get same opportunities - overtime, training, promotion, etc, its just this 'thing', that I dont think is even a written rule, that males are not on duty without a female. we do sometimes deal with survivors of dv and/or sexual abuse, but sometimes that person could be male.

Do they have the right number of male members of staff to fulfil the 1-1 ratio?

I understand what you are saying and in many ways agree, it is stupid, but caring is seen as "female" work and so men in it are treated with suspiscion, it is ridiculious, but our male co workers are caught between the devil and the deep blue on this, it is ever chicken and egg, as in they are vunerable to being accuse of abuse but by female co workers being available to chaparone to protect them (as in the male co worker,) because that is the real reason, the myth goes on
I am currently working in a very male environment and the buildings are designed so that for ease for the workers (trad male) you go through a male changing room to enter the building, and when I first started I would be meet by male staff who would do a quick look round so see if other men where half naked for my benefit, eventually I got tired of these often long waits, so I used to say, "I am a nurse I have seen it all before" and this was the magic words. after a while I was just let loose to visit the work places,
it was only after about maybe 8 months of just walking through and shouting "don't mind me, I am the nurse"
we had a conversation just like this in my department and I just suddenly thought...why is this ok? it isn't, is it? so I have taken to walking round the buildings to the other public enterance.
I have not worked on wards for 10 years but at that time I don't know if it has changed? and female trained nurses where not allowed to catherise male patients, yet male student nurses where it was not competance bases as male catheritisation is more complicated than female.
so it can work both ways