Nurses, and why we don't make 'em like we used to.

We don't train enough nurses in the UK.
This is clear because we have to bring in a large number of foreign nurses to keep up with demand.

I don't want this to get bogged down into a debate about immigration, because that's not the point I'm trying to make.

Clearly, however, we currently need immigrant nurses in the UK, because otherwise we would not have enough nurses. Why aren't we training enough?

This is purely speculation, but I wonder to what extent sexism has played a part in it. And possibly not sexism in the way you expect.

I used to play this riddle with people at uni (and you've probably heard it before but I'll post it anyway). Also, I should note that this is not integral to the story.

Here we go:

A man and his son are involved in a car accident and are rushed to hospital in separate ambulances.
The son arrives at the hospital first.
The doctor takes one look at him and exclaims:
"This boy is my son"
How is this possible?


People go for the obvious things first. I usually have to re-say the riddle several times, by which time they have usually tried: step-dad, two gay parents, and some elaborate story in which the original father was a grandfather or something stupid.

It's none of these.
And it's actually quite funny to see the look on the more feminist-y girl's faces when they don't get that simply the doctor is his mother.

A female doctor. The greatest riddle on Earth.

Anyway.
The point is the sexist cliche.
Men are doctors. Women are nurses.

I wonder how heavily that plays on girl's minds when they think about their future career paths. Do they subconsciously reject the possibility of being a nurse and conforming to gender stereotypes?