Emotional labour, gender and professional stereotypes of emotional and physical contact, and personal perspectives on the emotional labour of nursing

Abstract

Emotions in health organisations tend to remain tacit and in need of clarification. Often, emotions are made invisible in nursing and reduced to part and parcel of ‘women's work’ in the domestic sphere. It has been argued that there is an emotional division of labour in nursing that is based upon gender and gender stereotypes. Opinions on appropriate and inappropriate emotions shape images of nursing, interpersonal and physical contact with patients, the perceived roles of male and female nurses, and the roles of other health staff such as doctors. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study is to look at nurse narratives on emotional labour and explore the gendered nature of emotional labour. Data were collected primarily from 16 in-depth and semi-structured interviews with nurses. Divisions of gender and emotion will be analysed in the talk of nurse interviewees. Excerpts from interviews will be presented so as to look at views on the definition, stereotypes, gender and professional divisions of emotional labour. This is important in investigating the minutiae of nurses' emotional labour and its gendered nature, beginning to explore the potential therapeutic value of emotional labour and outlining the centrality of emotional labour in nursing.