writing_womans_lives_symposium_paper_book_v2

“Forget about it, don’t irritate the patient so much.” But no, if they are willing to waste my
life in order not to irritate the patient, then sorry, cancel the quarantine measures, let
anyone enter the ward.... Nobody knows how difficult our work is. Only when they end up
in the hospital, when they end up in our hands, do they say “Oh, so difficult, your shift is
really arduous. May God give you patience.” That is all. (Hazan, 16 years’ nursing
experience)
Nurses reported encountering incidents of physical or verbal attack, after which they were left all
alone. Some said that after a series of intimidating experiences in their profession, they avoided
conflict and refrained from standing up to any challenge or taking the initiative to solve a problem.
Losing hope after attempting for so long to meet expectations that might be higher than structural
factors allow, seeing that nothing had changed and that every day they started all over from zero
with a new patient, a new doctor, in a new unit, some nurses said that they had accepted defeat and
silently retreated by consciously making themselves a “dull character” at work in order to feel some
sort of harmony, at least to manage their lives after work. There were clear remarks about workers in
some hospitals deliberately avoiding problems. After seeing colleagues – or themselves – being
subjected to physical violence by patients, patients’ relatives, doctors, other medical authorities,
even by their nurse superiors, some nurses reported that they just tried to get through their shifts
without any problems, and in crisis situations they would merely reiterate that “We don’t know,”
“The doctor knows,” “Please wait for the doctor,” “Please talk to the doctor,” or “This is what the
doctor said.”
Women are thought to be better nurses than men, 25 and this makes nursing seem to be another
aspect of womanhood rather than a profession that requires special training. The Turkish equivalent
of nurse, hemşire, which is apparently a literal translation of the German word schwester, connotes
the profession’s domestic roots. Nurses have long been seen as sisters, natural born caregivers, both
at work and in their families, but they are not given autonomy even over their caregiving. They
cannot take part in decisions even in matters that directly concern them. With their uniforms,
manners, tasks, and quality of service, nurses seem to have reconstructed womanhood in public
while doing the tasks that, in a male‐defined environment, are deemed appropriate for women. They
have been relatively less educated, which is widely seen as a sign of lower‐class status, which in turn
makes their position less valued and less respectable, not only within medical hierarchies, but also in
the broader society, even though a nurse and a doctor in Turkey may very often come from families
belonging to the same socio‐economic stratum.
Nursing, like womanhood, was formed in public with a rather poor status in the Turkish context,
and nurses have striven to improve that status without any political or social support over the last 40
years. 26 But as one informant implied, it is difficult to break the vicious cycle of powerlessness
without the support of authorised and powerful people:
In the end, someone in a higher position must give a hand. You cannot do anything
alone, even though you act collectively. What can you say? Eventually nursing is
separated, nursing directorates are established. Okay, but doctors are still your superiors.
You cannot change this, you cannot manage this. Therefore someone in their position
must give a hand. What can you do alone? You cannot do anything.... Does the
restlessness change? If he does not show respect, it will be the same. In the end, you work
with them. You do not work all alone with your nurse colleagues and you are compelled to
be in contact [with doctors] all the time. You take their orders; you ask for their
permission. You cannot do anything without asking them. (Deniz, 16 years’ nursing
experience)
The fact that many nurses are unable to change the workplace culture because it is
predetermined when they enter it and few attain decision‐making positions makes it a vicious cycle.
The ones chosen for administrative positions seem to have helped sustain the taken‐for‐granted
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