Our society is generally trying to move beyond sexist stereotypes about career choices, but we sometimes miss the mark.
A photo shared by @TheMedicalShots on Twitter is an example of this.
In the photo, two toddlers dressed in scrubs walk away from the photographer.
One with long hair wearing pink scrubs and the other with a buzz cut in green. Across the back of each outfit is a message.
The pink says:
"Nurse in Training."
The green says:
"Doctor in Training."
The children, who are holding hands, are indeed adorable.
The insinuation that girls are nurses and boys are doctors is not.
Many people brought up the problem in the comments, including quite a few female doctors and male nurses.
It wasn't just medical professionals weighing in.
Some took a more humorous approach to disagreeing.
Memes were present, as always.
@angg_fn edited the text on the scrubs to reflect what both depict:
"health professional."
The discrepancy between the amount of men and women who are nurses and doctors, respectively, has improved over time. There are still relatively few men becoming nurses, however.
A paper from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth states that men make up only 13% of all of the nurses in the United States.
A University of California at San Francisco study shows that male registered nurses still make more money than their female counterparts, around $5000 more per year.
As the demand for skilled medical professionals increases with our aging population, we need to set aside the idea that gender has anything to do with who should be a doctor or nurse.
We need a whole lot more of both.
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