# History of nurse's uniforms for male nurses **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 9, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-nurses-uniforms-for-male-nurses/685677 "2014-04-09T00:29:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-nurses-uniforms-for-male-nurses/685677/1 "2014-04-09T00:29:33Z")
Here’s sort of an interesting question as it relates to gender roles and history that I was wondering about. There’s a lot of information out there in internet land about the history of nursing and the iconic “look” of the early to mid-20th century nurse in starched dress, apron, and cap. How were male nurses expected to dress in those days? There are plenty of obvious examples from the past hundred years as to how uniforms from historically male-dominated professions have been adapted for women (e.g. women’s military uniforms, police uniforms, etc.), but did this apply the other way? I can think of the following possibilities: 1. They dressed more or less like male physicians, e.g. suit and lab coat, possibly with some sort of minor insignia indicating that they were a nurse, not a doctor. 2. They had some sort of distinctive uniform of their own, with it’s own design and history (i.e. it wasn’t really an immediate adaptation of anything). 3. They wore the white dresses like any other nurse. 4. They wore some sort of “masculinized” version of the women’s nurse uniform, e.g. with trousers instead of a skirt. I’m leaning toward #1, but I’m not so sure given what I know about social roles and expectations back then - I’m not sure that doctors would have given a “pass” to male nurses to dress just like them, because, you know, _they aren’t doctors_, stop acting like you are one! For example, if I had gotten a job as a nurse, as a male, in 1940 at a major hospital in Philadelphia, what would have been the dress code expectation? Did this differ in private practice versus institutional settings? Were there differences in terms of policy versus practice (e.g. policy said you could wear anything sanitary, practice said that if you didn’t wear \ you would be socially ostracized)? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-nurses-uniforms-for-male-nurses/685677/2 "2014-04-09T01:40:55Z")
Towards the middle of[this page](http://www.bethesdaalumni.com/aboutus/) is “Nursing uniforms 1896-1916” for Bethesda School of Nursing. [This page](http://www.hhsnalumnae.org/about_us.htm) has the 1956 nursing team at a different nursing school. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-nurses-uniforms-for-male-nurses/685677/3 "2014-04-09T01:53:26Z")
Here’s more: [Class of 1899 Victoria General Hospital School of Nursing](http://forms.msvu.ca/library/archives/nhdp/VGH/VGH_P7.htm) [Class of 1924 Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing For Men](http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/paharc/collections/gallery/people/Male_Students.html) ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-nurses-uniforms-for-male-nurses/685677/4 "2014-04-09T02:10:12Z")
When I worked in a nursing facility in the early eighties (white uniforms were still the norm), our male nurses and orderlies wore white trousers, barber type shirts (smocks?) and white shoes. While the female nurses wore caps (like I said, back in the dinosaur era), the men did not. Oddly enough, the men in my sister’s classes when doing student nursing were always asked by some patients if they were planning on becoming a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-nurses-uniforms-for-male-nurses/685677/5 "2014-04-09T03:20:45Z")
> [@missred](#): > > Oddly enough, the men in my sister’s classes when doing student nursing were always asked by some patients if they were planning on becoming a doctor. Yeah well, it’s now the 21st century, you can’t tell who the hell anyone is and after a half dozen random people have walked in and out of the examination room I’m waiting in I ask the next one “are you the doctor?” and she’s a women I get an eyeroll and a snippy, “YES I’M A DOCTOR.” Whatever. I’m paying, and you’re not doing me a favor by doing your job. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-nurses-uniforms-for-male-nurses/685677/6 "2014-04-09T10:00:44Z")
Here’s an authentic picture of a male nurse in his uniform: [http://iontelevision.com/images/programs/cast/mash\_klinger\_large.jpg](http://iontelevision.com/images/programs/cast/mash_klinger_large.jpg)