You know the answers as well as I do. Very few. Don’t put you daughter on a ward, Mrs Worthington.
Of all the mothers who’ve asked my advice about their daughters’ careers over the years, not one has confided to me that she’d like her daughter to be a nurse or that her daughter is interested in nursing. A doctor - yes - but never a nurse. Yet I meet older women who tell me of their pride in and enjoyment of their former career, and indeed how well it fitted with having a family.
But like being a full-time mother, nursing, even with degree status, is no longer respected. Not so long ago, alongside teaching, it used to be a highly regarded career path for girls. Yet today’s modern aspirational middle classes would far rather see their children arrive at the more me-oriented ‘media’, or ‘arts’, career destinations.
The State appears to endorse this prejudice.
Of all the mothers who’ve asked my advice about their daughters’ careers over the years, not one has confided to me that she’d like her daughter to be a nurse or that her daughter is interested in nursing. A doctor - yes - but never a nurse. Yet I meet older women who tell me of their pride in and enjoyment of their former career, and indeed how well it fitted with having a family.
But like being a full-time mother, nursing, even with degree status, is no longer respected. Not so long ago, alongside teaching, it used to be a highly regarded career path for girls. Yet today’s modern aspirational middle classes would far rather see their children arrive at the more me-oriented ‘media’, or ‘arts’, career destinations.
The State appears to endorse this prejudice.