NURSE Marcus Hovey says gender equality is "not an us versus them" scenario but rather the need for greater promotion on how great the job is for all people.
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Little has changed in nursing workforce composition since Mr Hovey wrote a university assignment on gender equality in the 1990s. Of registered nurses then, 9.8 per cent were males and that figure has grown to about 11 per cent today.
A Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector audit, released this month, found the entire Ballarat Health Services workforce was skewed 79 per cent in females. This was on par with the state health care ratio.
Since the audit data was collected last year, BHS has merged into Grampians Health with services in Stawell, Horsham, Edenhope and Dimboola. But high female casualisation and part-time rates remain starkly high with four women for every male.
Mr Hovey said old, traditional gender specific roles tended to prevail: the "medical directors' game", in particular, was dominated by males who held down more full-time roles; generally lower remuneration than spouses often meant females opted for part-time work to balance family duties.
And Mr Hovey said there was the need for greater role modelling.
"It comes right back to gender stereotypes and we need to be modelling from an early age," Mr Hovey said.
"We need to be sharing the load...There are quotas for women to be involved in certain jobs, perhaps we need one for males in nurses but the bulk of people coming through for jobs is women. It will take time to change but we need to start at that point."
Mr Hovey said gradually this was changing and one major positive was Australian Catholic University's dual degree in nursing and paramedicine. This course, offered on the Ballarat campus, exposed more male students to nursing - then, this offered a chance to bridge workplace awards in keeping them.
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Nursing is in the family for Mr Hovey, whose mother and maternal aunts were nurses. He started in primary teaching but moved into nursing. He started as the only nurse who was a male on the surgical ward and said his whole career since had been with amazing people.
Mr Hovey said being binary on any job was not a good thing, whether it was gender, race, culture, religion or sexuality. He said nursing was about caring - this was what kept him in nursing, to care for his team knowing that in turn also means better care for their patients.
He runs a diverse team on Ballarat Base Hospital's 2GP, a respiratory ward, but said there was still room to increase such diversity.
"Do we need more nurses who are male? We just need more nurses," Mr Hovey said. "A bit more diversity is always beneficial.
"We as nurses need to do more to promote this is a great job for all people and we can only do that in promoting the good working environment.
"It might not be very flexible hours but there is financial compensation for that and there are a lot of attractive roles in nursing...A lot of nursing jobs in the future do not even exist yet."
Grampians Health Gender Equality Action plan has also identified a "rainbow ready" action plan as part of a continued shift towards gender equality to ensure LGBTIQA+ peoples - as staff, volunteers, patients and visitors - feel an inclusive environment.
The report also details BHS and Wimmera Health Care Group joined Women's Health Grampians' Communities of Respect and Equality Alliance (better known as CoRE) to commit to promoting safer, respectful communities. These signings were made separately before the amalgamation into Grampians Health.
Grampians Health chief people officer Claire Woods said the organisation's over-arching gender equality action plan was "more than just a document" but an integral part of ensuring a safe and welcoming environment.
"Our action plan highlights that making Grampians Health a safe and welcoming place for LGBTQIA+ people is a priority for us, and we believe working towards being rainbow ready will ensure that we dedicate resources and focus to the activities required to achieve this," Ms Woods said.
"We believe that encouraging a range of underrepresented groups, including males, to consider nursing as a career into the future will bring benefits including increased workforce and contribute to gender equality in our community."
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