My Personal Story Related To My Gender Identity

Gender Inequality
Name
Institution/ Affiliation
Gender inequality
Since I was young, I liked walking in people low moments in life and make a difference. Being the first born in a family of three children, I was obliged to take care of the young ones as the society expects especially when my parents were always busy working. Motivated and driven by passion, to being compassionate I volunteered to help the less fortunate in my neighborhood. The love of being kindhearted inspired and kept calling me to enroll in the nursing field despite the perceptions associated with men in this field. Even though, men account for about 13 percent of nurses in the world today, these numbers have improved from two percent recorded in the 1970s, still stereotyping is very high in this discipline.
My desire was partly influenced by my father who has been practicing as a physician for about twenty years now. Mostly, we would accompany my dad to his private clinic on weekends. This exposure did not only instill more drive in me but also helped develop and analyze what it takes to be a nurse. Unfortunately, among the eight nurses that were in my dad’s clinic, only one was a man named Harvey. Harvey was the kindest and caring person that I have interacted with in my life. We shared a lot but more importantly the experience of being in this female denominated career. I would also witness Harvey being rejected among them the aged patients especially the women. I would always hear a patient say “but he is a man, I want to be attended by a female nurse.” I could see it through Harvey's eyes the disappointment of being rejected, although he always played it cool. All this disappointment and rejection I witnessed on Harvey, did not change what I believed.
When I was around the eighth grade, I made the decision I would enroll in the nursing career. I consider myself fortunate to have supportive parents who firmly believe in my education and gender equality. When the time was due, I communicated with my parents as well as my teachers on my decision. At first, my mother took it adversely as he had always wanted me to be an engineer to emulate my late grandfather. On the other hand, my dad was very positive in that he was still determined to change the perceptions that greater nurturing does not necessarily come with gender. Moreover, having been consistently the best student in my class, this decision did not get along well with my teachers who had higher expectations except for my principal who was liberal and very supportive.
On communicating the decision among my close friends, it was the beginning of a slippery road. The situation not only turned our relationship, but also set their perceptions on my personality. I started was labeled inferior, and most students began avoiding me. I will never forget, on a career coaching day in our school, on declaring my interest to become a nurse, almost everyone laughed at me. Such reactions made me feel ashamed and demoralized. On the other hand, I felt that other female counterparts did not receive such responses despite them choosing the same careers and even those associated with men. Furthermore, other male students who declared an interest in other disciplines such as medicine and e...