When Care Colludes: Nursing and Medical Misogyny

Keywords

Medical misogyny, gender, equity, health, bias, ethics, nursing education, patient care

Abstract

Misogyny in healthcare is not an unfortunate by-product of poor bedside manner; it is a structural form of gender-based oppression that has consequences for women that include material, clinical and epistemic harm. To centre women as credible knowers of their own bodies is more than a gesture of empathy; it is a clinical and political refusal to collude with systemic and institutional oppression. To challenge these systems is to reject neutrality and advocate for accountability and structural redistribution of authority. Transformation will not come from curriculum reform or policy language alone. Gender-responsive care, without a deliberate disruption of misogynistic discourse, risks becoming another institutional gesture that leaves patriarchal structures intact. Nursing has a political responsibility to refuse systems that render women's experiences marginal, and to insist that women are taken seriously as authoritative subjects, whose voices are heard, believed and respected.

Original Publication Citation

Jackson, D., Watson, A., Bond, C., & Cleary, M. (2025). When Care Colludes: Nursing and Medical Misogyny. Nursing Inquiry, 33(1), e70066. https://doi.org/10.1111/nin.70066

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2025-11-18

Publisher

Nursing Inquiry

Language

English

College

Nursing

University Standing at Time of Publication

Assistant Professor

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