Male nurses make on average around $6,000 more per year compared to their female counterparts despite accounting for only around 10% of registered nurses, according to a recent report from Nurse.com.
It is a challenge for chief nursing officers to align with the rest of the C-suite — and the challenge is not the same at every institution.
"The gendered pay gap in nursing continues to be a significant issue and one that continues to cause major issues in many facets of healthcare," Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, RN, president of the American Nurses Association, told Becker's. "There has been work to narrow this divide in nursing, but societally it continues to be an issue in every industry, including the female-dominated field of nursing."
More men have been applying to the field, Dr. Mensik Kennedy said, but they are often entering specialty or administrative roles that typically come with high pay from the start.
"We have seen that it's often easier for men to get promotions and make their way into the higher-earning specialties than it is for women," Dr. Mensik Kennedy said. "This creates imbalanced overrepresentation in the highest-paid specialties, compared to their overall numbers in the nursing population."
Additionally, she pointed out that in general, women are less likely to negotiate their salary in any position, but using online resources, data and research can help female nurses make their case.
What individual nurses do, however, is only part of the equation. The other half involves hospitals and health systems working to change.
Change from within
Ryan Smith, MSN, RN, chief clinical officer and interim chief nursing officer at Tallahassee (Fla.) Memorial HealthCare, said that as a male nurse leader, this issue is particularly important to him.
At Tallahassee Memorial, Mr. Smith and his team used an approach that barred names and gender of staff to more equitably assess pay of each nurse in the system to bring compensation in line with their years of experience, education and the market. Part of this process also involved transparently explaining why the health system used the methodology it did to calculate salary increases and how it determined what "fair" meant for their market.
"You don't see a lot of male chief nursing officers at all," Mr. Smith said. "I was one of two or three graduates in my class. So when I'm now recruiting and having relationships with nursing staff, I really try to make sure that we're getting a full screen of the individual and their skills. … I'm very up front about being a humble leader. I spent two years in the bedside. I'm not a clinical expert. My goal is to help facilitate, to help support, to help be that voice, and just to let them do what they need to. There are nurses on the floor that have more experience than I have. My job is just to partner with them, to understand and be transparent. I think people appreciate that."
At Lewes, Del.-based Beebe Health, however, Chief Nursing Executive Kathy Tregear, MSN, RN, told Becker's she has not seen much of a gap at her institution regarding pay for bedside nurses.
"We make offers based on experience and based on their practice," she said. "So when it comes to our front-line nurses, I honestly I can't say that I've seen a gap. I'm not privy to what happens with pay for advanced practice clinicians. So, is there a difference there? I honestly don't know, but I have not seen it, and I've certainly not seen it here."
Closing the gap
For both hospital and health system C-suite executives who may be challenged with bringing nursing wages to a more balanced level, Dr. Mensik Kennedy recommends beginning with focused discussion and making sure any pay gap is an ongoing topic.
Additionally, she recommends C-suite leaders stay on top of statistics, reports and salary trends across the field while also "conducting regular audits to identify and address disparities, promoting career growth opportunities for female nurses to combat gender-based promotional biases, and utilizing professional organizations and stakeholders to develop effective strategies."