"Doing gender" in a nursing home for the elderly : Perspectives of staff and management

• Published in: Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie 2016-12, Vol.49 (8), p.700-705
• Main Authors: Reitinger, Elisabeth, Lehner, Erich, Pichler, Barbara, Heimerl, Katharina
• Format: Article
• Language: ger
• Subjects: Attitude of Health Personnel; Employment - organization & administration; Germany; Homes for the Aged - organization & administration; Nurse Administrators - statistics & numerical data; Nurses - organization & administration; Nursing Care - organization & administration; Nursing Homes - organization & administration; Sexism
• ISSN: 1435-1269

"Doing gender" plays an important role in nursing interactions in long-term care settings. The aim of this article is to focus on the experiences of staff and management in a long-term care setting on the social categorization of gender and to reflect and discuss these findings against already existing research. Within a qualitative study, one to one interviews and group discussions with a total of 28 participants were conducted. The results show how "doing gender" as a social practice effects interactions with residents, within the working team and in the context of management and hierarchy in the long-term care setting. In interactions with residents, gender-specific behavior can be observed. Within the working team gender-specific differences with respect to division of labor and working hours are reported. Concerning management and hierarchy it can be observed that male executives react more strongly in correspondence with the expectations of their gender role whereas female executives show more discrepancies between the expectations towards their position and gender role.