Will graduate entry free nursing from the shackles of class and gender oppression?

Abstract

Debates in nursing focus on the provision of good nursing care and its relation to academic status. For example, are nurses "too posh to wash" if they believe entry to the profession should require a degree, or is this a case of them having pretensions "above their station"? This article discusses the nature of oppression and its relationship to hierarchy, and concludes that nurses are oppressed through gender and socioeconomic class. It also examines the profession's social position, arguing thatthe majority of nurses identify with the most oppressed social class.