Asymmetrical therapeutic mobilities: masculine advantage in nurse migration from India

ABSTRACT

This paper examines masculinity, migration and the changing occupational status of nursing through the lens of therapeutic mobilities; health related mobilities of people (nurses) and products (credentials). Indian men have become increasingly interested in nursing as a career, and this interest is strongly associated with the profession’s international motility—its mobility potential. The research reported in this paper traces the migration trajectory across time (2008–2016) and over space (India to Canada) and reveals an overrepresentation of male nurses in international migration contexts (Canada), compared to the Indian context. Male nurses also disproportionally benefit from these mobilities in terms of their occupational success post-migration. Mobilities can be therapeutic for the status of nursing in India, which rises in line with the degree of international motility the profession offers, but gendered distinctions in the outcomes of the migration process illustrate the importance of highlighting uneven mobilities. International mobilities are also deeply implicated in ongoing transformations occurring in the ‘moorings’ of nursing educational, employment and regulatory structures in India.

KEYWORDS:

• Male nurses
• occupational mobility
• migration
• India
• Canada

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their insightful and deeply constructive comments on an earlier draft of this paper that illuminated the issues of asymmetry, as well as the editors of Mobilities. I am also grateful to my fellow co-editors of this special issue and the other authors who made this special issue possible. An earlier version of this paper benefitted from critical feedback during a visiting faculty (sabbatical) fellowship at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The research in Canada focuses on Ontario, which employs half of all Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) in Canada, and Indian nurses are the fourth largest group employed (Baumann and Blythe 2008).

2. In 2009 Tamil Nadu barred male students from diploma nursing courses at government colleges because the curriculum had changed to include midwifery. When a case against this decision came before the High court on the grounds of sexual discrimination, the judge accepted the government’s rationale that the state had enough male nurses for the remaining posts available to them. The Judge stated; ‘no woman prefers to have the assistance of male nurses during delivery, antenatal, post-natal and labour ward for care, it is not possible to impart the training to male candidates’ (Times of India 2009).

3. One of the products of a related research project on the intersections between immigration and nursing regulatory policies was a series of short films on nursing shortages and the experiences of international educated nurses. The films were produced in collaboration with the research partner Conestoga College, and they can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4LmudMlwGQ&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LADecl_F5vg.

Additional information

Funding

Research in Kerala was funded by the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, Jithin Raj provided research assistance. In Punjab research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council [grant # 410-2010-1013], and involved collaboration with faculty and students from the Centre of Advanced Study in Geography (CAS), Panjab University Chandigarh, India. In Canada research was funded by CERIS-Metropolis Ontario and was completed in collaboration with faculty and students from Conestoga College and with the research assistance of Amy Arbuckle and Virpal Kataure.