RACIALIZING THE GLASS ESCALATOR

Reconsidering Men’s Experiences

with Women’s Work
ADIA HARVEY WINGFIELD
Georgia State University

Many men who work in women’s professions experience a glass escalator effect that facil-
itates their advancement and upward mobility within these fields. Research finds that sub-
tle aspects of the interactions, norms, and expectations in women’s professions push men
upward and outward into the higher-status, higher-paying, more “masculine” positions
within these fields. Although most research includes minority men, little has explicitly con-
sidered how racial dynamics color these men’s encounters with the mechanisms of the
glass escalator. In this article, the author examines how intersections of race and gender
combine to shape experiences for minority men in the culturally feminized field of nursing
and finds that the upward mobility implied by the glass escalator is not uniformly avail-
able to all men who do “women’s work.” The author concludes that the glass escalator is
a racialized concept and a gendered one and considers the implications of this for future
studies of men in feminized occupations.

Keywords: glass escalator; race; Black men; nursing

S ociologists who study work have long noted that jobs are sex segregated
and that this segregation creates different occupational experiences for
men and women (Charles and Grusky 2004). Jobs predominantly filled by
women often require “feminine” traits such as nurturing, caring, and empa-
thy, a fact that means men confront perceptions that they are unsuited for the
requirements of these jobs. Rather than having an adverse effect on their

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Special thanks to Kirsten Dellinger, Mindy Stombler, Ralph LaRossa,
Cindy Whitney, Laura Logan, Dana Britton, and the anonymous reviewers for their
insights and helpful feedback. Thanks also to Karyn Lacy, Andra Gillespie, and Isabel
Wilkerson for their comments and support. Correspondence concerning this article should
be addressed to Adia Harvey Wingfield, Department of Sociology, Georgia State
University, P.O. Box 5020, Atlanta, GA 30302-5020; phone: 404-413-6509; e-mail:
aharvey@gsu.edu.
GENDER & SOCIETY, Vol. 23 No. 1, February 2009 5-26
DOI: 10.1177/0891243208323054
© 2009 Sociologists for Women in Society

5
6 GENDER & SOCIETY / February 2009

occupational experiences, however, these assumptions facilitate men’s entry

into better paying, higher status positions, creating what Williams (1995)
labels a “glass escalator” effect.
The glass escalator model has been an influential paradigm in under-
standing the experiences of men who do women’s work. Researchers have
identified this process among men nurses, social workers, paralegals, and
librarians and have cited its pervasiveness as evidence of men’s consistent
advantage in the workplace, such that even in jobs where men are numeri-
cal minorities they are likely to enjoy higher wages and faster promotions
(Floge and Merrill 1986; Heikes 1991; Pierce 1995; Williams 1989, 1995).
Most of these studies implicitly assume a racial homogenization of men
workers in women’s professions, but this supposition is problematic for
several reasons. For one, minority men are not only present but are actually
overrepresented in certain areas of reproductive work that have historically
been dominated by white women (Duffy 2007). Thus, research that focuses
primarily on white men in women’s professions ignores a key segment of
men who perform this type of labor. Second, and perhaps more important,
conclusions based on the experiences of white men tend to overlook the
ways that intersections of race and gender create different experiences for
different men. While extensive work has documented the fact that white
men in women’s professions encounter a glass escalator effect that aids
their occupational mobility (for an exception, see Snyder and Green 2008),
few studies, if any, have considered how this effect is a function not only
of gendered advantage but of racial privilege as well.
In this article, I examine the implications of race–gender intersections
for minority men employed in a female-dominated, feminized occupation,
specifically focusing on Black men in nursing. Their experiences doing
“women’s work” demonstrate that the glass escalator is a racialized as
well as gendered concept.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

In her classic study Men and Women of the Corporation, Kanter

(1977) offers a groundbreaking analysis of group interactions.
Focusing on high-ranking women executives who work mostly with
men, Kanter argues that those in the extreme numerical minority are
tokens who are socially isolated, highly visible, and adversely stereo-
typed. Tokens have difficulty forming relationships with colleagues
and often are excluded from social networks that provide mobility.
Because of their low numbers, they are also highly visible as people
 Harvey Wingfield / MEN’S EXPERIENCES WITH WOMEN’S WORK 7

who are different from the majority, even though they often feel invis-
ible when they are ignored or overlooked in social settings. Tokens are
also stereotyped by those in the majority group and frequently face
pressure to behave in ways that challenge and undermine these stereo-
types. Ultimately, Kanter argues that it is harder for them to blend into
the organization and to work effectively and productively, and that
they face serious barriers to upward mobility.
Kanter’s (1977) arguments have been analyzed and retested in various
settings and among many populations. Many studies, particularly of women
in male-dominated corporate settings, have supported her findings. Other
work has reversed these conclusions, examining the extent to which her
conclusions hold when men were the tokens and women the majority group.
These studies fundamentally challenged the gender neutrality of the token,
finding that men in the minority fare much better than do similarly situated
women. In particular, this research suggests that factors such as heightened
visibility and polarization do not necessarily disadvantage men who are in
the minority. While women tokens find that their visibility hinders their abil-
ity to blend in and work productively, men tokens find that their conspicu-
ousness can lead to greater opportunities for leadership and choice
assignments (Floge and Merrill 1986; Heikes 1991). Studies in this vein are
important because they emphasize organizations—and occupations—as
gendered institutions that subsequently create dissimilar experiences for
men and women tokens (see Acker 1990).
In her groundbreaking study of men employed in various women’s pro-
fessions, Williams (1995) further develops this analysis of how power
relationships shape the ways men tokens experience work in women’s
professions. Specifically, she introduces the concept of the glass escalator
to explain men’s experiences as tokens in these areas. Like Floge and
Merrill (1986) and Heikes (1991), Williams finds that men tokens do not
experience the isolation, visibility, blocked access to social networks, and
stereotypes in the same ways that women tokens do. In contrast, Williams
argues that even though they are in the minority, processes are in place
that actually facilitate their opportunity and advancement. Even in cultur-
ally feminized occupations, then, men’s advantage is built into the very
structure and everyday interactions of these jobs so that men find them-
selves actually struggling to remain in place. For these men, “despite their
intentions, they face invisible pressures to move up in their professions.
Like being on a moving escalator, they have to work to stay in place”
(Williams 1995, 87).
The glass escalator term thus refers to the “subtle mechanisms in place
that enhance [men’s] positions in [women’s] professions” (Williams
8 GENDER & SOCIETY / February 2009

1995, 108). These mechanisms include certain behaviors, attitudes, and

beliefs men bring to these professions as well as the types of interactions
that often occur between these men and their colleagues, supervisors,
and customers. Consequently, even in occupations composed mostly of
women, gendered perceptions about men’s roles, abilities, and skills
privilege them and facilitate their advancement. The glass escalator
serves as a conduit that channels men in women’s professions into the
uppermost levels of the occupational hierarchy. Ultimately, the glass
escalator effect suggests that men retain consistent occupational advan-
tages over women, even when women are numerically in the majority
(Budig 2002; Williams 1995).
Though this process has now been fairly well established in the litera-
ture, there are reasons to question its generalizability to all men. In an
early critique of the supposed general neutrality of the token, Zimmer
(1988) notes that much research on race comes to precisely the opposite
of Kanter’s conclusions, finding that as the numbers of minority group
members increase (e.g., as they become less likely to be “tokens”), so too
do tensions between the majority and minority groups. For instance, as
minorities move into predominantly white neighborhoods, increasing
numbers do not create the likelihood of greater acceptance and better
treatment. In contrast, whites are likely to relocate when neighborhoods
become “too” integrated, citing concerns about property values and racial-
ized ideas about declining neighborhood quality (Shapiro 2004).
Reinforcing, while at the same time tempering, the findings of research on
men in female-dominated occupations, Zimmer (1988, 71) argues that
relationships between tokens and the majority depend on understanding
the underlying power relationships between these groups and “the status
and power differentials between them.” Hence, just as men who are tokens
fare better than women, it also follows that the experiences of Blacks and
whites as tokens should differ in ways that reflect their positions in hier-
archies of status and power.
The concept of the glass escalator provides an important and useful
framework for addressing men’s experiences in women’s occupations,
but so far research in this vein has neglected to examine whether the glass
escalator is experienced among all men in an identical manner. Are the
processes that facilitate a ride on the glass escalator available to minority
men? Or does race intersect with gender to affect the extent to which the
glass escalator offers men opportunities in women’s professions? In the
next section, I examine whether and how the mechanisms that facilitate a
ride on the glass escalator might be unavailable to Black men in nursing.1
 Harvey Wingfield / MEN’S EXPERIENCES WITH WOMEN’S WORK 9

Relationships with Colleagues and Supervisors

One key aspect of riding the glass escalator involves the warm, colle-
gial welcome men workers often receive from their women colleagues.
Often, this reaction is a response to the fact that professions dominated by
women are frequently low in salary and status and that greater numbers of
men help improve prestige and pay (Heikes 1991). Though some women
workers resent the apparent ease with which men enter and advance in
women’s professions, the generally warm welcome men receive stands in
stark contrast to the cold reception, difficulties with mentorship, and
blocked access to social networks that women often encounter when they
do men’s work (Roth 2006; Williams 1992). In addition, unlike women in
men’s professions, men who do women’s work frequently have supervi-
sors of the same sex. Men workers can thus enjoy a gendered bond with
their supervisor in the context of a collegial work environment. These fac-
tors often converge, facilitating men’s access to higher-status positions
and producing the glass escalator effect.
The congenial relationship with colleagues and gendered bonds with
supervisors are crucial to riding the glass escalator. Women colleagues
often take a primary role in casting these men into leadership or supervi-
sory positions. In their study of men and women tokens in a hospital set-
ting, Floge and Merrill (1986) cite cases where women nurses promoted
men colleagues to the position of charge nurse, even when the job had
already been assigned to a woman. In addition to these close ties with
women colleagues, men are also able to capitalize on gendered bonds with
(mostly men) supervisors in ways that engender upward mobility. Many
men supervisors informally socialize with men workers in women’s jobs
and are thus able to trade on their personal friendships for upward mobil-
ity. Williams (1995) describes a case where a nurse with mediocre perfor-
mance reviews received a promotion to a more prestigious specialty area
because of his friendship with the (male) doctor in charge. According to
the literature, building strong relationships with colleagues and supervi-
sors often happens relatively easily for men in women’s professions and
pays off in their occupational advancement.
For Black men in nursing, however, gendered racism may limit the
extent to which they establish bonds with their colleagues and supervisors.
The concept of gendered racism suggests that racial stereotypes, images,
and beliefs are grounded in gendered ideals (Collins 1990, 2004; Espiritu
2000; Essed 1991; Harvey Wingfield 2007). Gendered racist stereotypes
of Black men in particular emphasize the dangerous, threatening attributes
10 GENDER & SOCIETY / February 2009

associated with Black men and Black masculinity, framing Black men as
threats to white women, prone to criminal behavior, and especially vio-
lent. Collins (2004) argues that these stereotypes serve to legitimize Black
men’s treatment in the criminal justice system through methods such as
racial profiling and incarceration, but they may also hinder Black men’s
attempts to enter and advance in various occupational fields.
For Black men nurses, gendered racist images may have particular con-
sequences for their relationships with women colleagues, who may view
Black men nurses through the lens of controlling images and gendered
racist stereotypes that emphasize the danger they pose to women. This
may take on a heightened significance for white women nurses, given
stereotypes that suggest that Black men are especially predisposed to rap-
ing white women. Rather than experiencing the congenial bonds with col-
leagues that white men nurses describe, Black men nurses may find
themselves facing a much cooler reception from their women coworkers.
Gendered racism may also play into the encounters Black men nurses
have with supervisors. In cases where supervisors are white men, Black
men nurses may still find that higher-ups treat them in ways that reflect
prevailing stereotypes about threatening Black masculinity. Supervisors
may feel uneasy about forming close relationships with Black men or may
encourage their separation from white women nurses. In addition,
broader, less gender-specific racial stereotypes could also shape the expe-
riences Black men nurses have with white men bosses. Whites often per-
ceive Blacks, regardless of gender, as less intelligent, hardworking,
ethical, and moral than other racial groups (Feagin 2006). Black men
nurses may find that in addition to being influenced by gendered racist
stereotypes, supervisors also view them as less capable and qualified for
promotion, thus negating or minimizing the glass escalator effect.

Suitability for Nursing and Higher-Status Work

The perception that men are not really suited to do women’s work also
contributes to the glass escalator effect. In encounters with patients, doc-
tors, and other staff, men nurses frequently confront others who do not
expect to see them doing “a woman’s job.” Sometimes this perception
means that patients mistake men nurses for doctors; ultimately, the sense
that men do not really belong in nursing contributes to a push “out of the
most feminine-identified areas and up to those regarded as more legitimate
for men” (Williams 1995, 104). The sense that men are better suited for
more masculine jobs means that men workers are often assumed to be more
able and skilled than their women counterparts. As Williams writes (1995,
 Harvey Wingfield / MEN’S EXPERIENCES WITH WOMEN’S WORK 11

106), “Masculinity is often associated with competence and mastery,” and

this implicit definition stays with men even when they work in feminized
fields. Thus, part of the perception that men do not belong in these jobs is
rooted in the sense that, as men, they are more capable and accomplished
than women and thus belong in jobs that reflect this. Consequently, men
nurses are mistaken for doctors and are granted more authority and respon-
sibility than their women counterparts, reflecting the idea that, as men, they
are inherently more competent (Heikes 1991; Williams 1995).
Black men nurses, however, may not face the presumptions of expertise
or the resulting assumption that they belong in higher-status jobs. Black
professionals, both men and women, are often assumed to be less capable
and less qualified than their white counterparts. In some cases, these nega-
tive stereotypes hold even when Black workers outperform white col-
leagues (Feagin and Sikes 1994). The belief that Blacks are inherently less
competent than whites means that, despite advanced education, training,
and skill, Black professionals often confront the lingering perception that
they are better suited for lower-level service work (Feagin and Sikes 1994).
Black men in fact often fare better than white women in blue-collar jobs
such as policing and corrections work (Britton 1995), and this may be, in
part, because they are viewed as more appropriately suited for these types
of positions.
For Black men nurses, then, the issue of perception may play out in dif-
ferent ways than it does for white men nurses. While white men nurses
enjoy the automatic assumption that they are qualified, capable, and suited
for “better” work, the experiences of Black professionals suggest that
Black men nurses may not encounter these reactions. They may, like their
white counterparts, face the perception that they do not belong in nursing.
Unlike their white counterparts, Black men nurses may be seen as inher-
ently less capable and therefore better suited for low-wage labor than a
professional, feminized occupation such as nursing. This perception of
being less qualified means that they also may not be immediately assumed
to be better suited for the higher-level, more masculinized jobs within the
medical field.
As minority women address issues of both race and gender to negotiate
a sense of belonging in masculine settings (Ong 2005), minority men may
also face a comparable challenge in feminized fields. They may have to
address the unspoken racialization implicit in the assumption that mas-
culinity equals competence. Simultaneously, they may find that the racial
stereotype that Blackness equals lower qualifications, standards, and com-
petence clouds the sense that men are inherently more capable and adept
in any field, including the feminized ones.
12 GENDER & SOCIETY / February 2009

Establishing Distance from Femininity

An additional mechanism of the glass escalator involves establishing
distance from women and the femininity associated with their occupa-
tions. Because men nurses are employed in a culturally feminized
occupation, they develop strategies to disassociate themselves from the
femininity associated with their work and retain some of the privilege
associated with masculinity. Thus, when men nurses gravitate toward
hospital emergency wards rather than obstetrics or pediatrics, or empha-
size that they are only in nursing to get into hospital administration, they
distance themselves from the femininity of their profession and thereby
preserve their status as men despite the fact that they do “women’s work.”
Perhaps more important, these strategies also place men in a prime posi-
tion to experience the glass escalator effect, as they situate themselves to
move upward into higher-status areas in the field.
Creating distance from femininity also helps these men achieve aspects
of hegemonic masculinity, which Connell (1989) describes as the predom-
inant and most valued form of masculinity at a given time. Contemporary
hegemonic masculine ideals emphasize toughness, strength, aggressive-
ness, heterosexuality, and, perhaps most important, a clear sense of femi-
ninity as different from and subordinate to masculinity (Kimmel 2001;
Williams 1995). Thus, when men distance themselves from the feminized
aspects of their jobs, they uphold the idea that masculinity and femininity
are distinct, separate, and mutually exclusive. When these men seek mas-
culinity by aiming for the better paying or most technological fields, they
not only position themselves to move upward into the more acceptable are-
nas but also reinforce the greater social value placed on masculinity.
Establishing distance from femininity therefore allows men to retain the
privileges and status of masculinity while simultaneously enabling them to
ride the glass escalator.
For Black men, the desire to reject femininity may be compounded by
racial inequality. Theorists have argued that as institutional racism blocks
access to traditional markers of masculinity such as occupational status and
economic stability, Black men may repudiate femininity as a way of
accessing the masculinity—and its attendant status—that is denied through
other routes (hooks 2004; Neal 2005). Rejecting femininity is a key strat-
egy men use to assert masculinity, and it remains available to Black men
even when other means of achieving masculinity are unattainable. Black
men nurses may be more likely to distance themselves from their women
colleagues and to reject the femininity associated with nursing, particularly if
they feel that they experience racial discrimination that renders occupational
 Harvey Wingfield / MEN’S EXPERIENCES WITH WOMEN’S WORK 13

advancement inaccessible. Yet if they encounter strained relationships with

women colleagues and men supervisors because of gendered racism or
racialized stereotypes, the efforts to distance themselves from femininity
still may not result in the glass escalator effect.
On the other hand, some theorists suggest that minority men may chal-
lenge racism by rejecting hegemonic masculine ideals. Chen (1999)
argues that Chinese American men may engage in a strategy of repudia-
tion, where they reject hegemonic masculinity because its implicit
assumptions of whiteness exclude Asian American men. As these men
realize that racial stereotypes and assumptions preclude them from
achieving the hegemonic masculine ideal, they reject it and dispute its
racialized underpinnings. Similarly, Lamont (2000, 47) notes that work-
ing-class Black men in the United States and France develop a “caring
self” in which they emphasize values such as “morality, solidarity, and
generosity.” As a consequence of these men’s ongoing experiences with
racism, they develop a caring self that highlights work on behalf of others
as an important tool in fighting oppression. Although caring is associated
with femininity, these men cultivate a caring self because it allows them
to challenge racial inequality. The results of these studies suggest that
Black men nurses may embrace the femininity associated with nursing if
it offers a way to combat racism. In these cases, Black men nurses may
turn to pediatrics as a way of demonstrating sensitivity and therefore com-
bating stereotypes of Black masculinity, or they may proudly identify as
nurses to challenge perceptions that Black men are unsuited for profes-
sional, white-collar positions.
Taken together, all of this research suggests that Black men may not
enjoy the advantages experienced by their white men colleagues, who ride
a glass escalator to success. In this article, I focus on the experiences of
Black men nurses to argue that the glass escalator is a racialized as well
as a gendered concept that does not offer Black men the same privileges
as their white men counterparts.

DATA COLLECTION AND METHOD

I collected data through semistructured interviews with 17 men nurses

who identified as Black or African American. Nurses ranged in age from
30 to 51 and lived in the southeastern United States. Six worked in subur-
ban hospitals adjacent to major cities, six were located in major metro-
politan urban care centers, and the remaining five worked in rural
hospitals or clinics. All were registered nurses or licensed practical nurses.
14 GENDER & SOCIETY / February 2009

TABLE 1: Respondents

Years of Years at
Name Age Specialization Experience Current Job

Chris 51 Oncology 26 16
Clayton 31 Emergency 6 6
Cyril 40 Dialysis 17 7
Dennis 30 Bedside 7 7 (months)
Evan 42 Surgery 25 20
Greg 39 Oncology 10 3
Kenny 47 Orthopedics 23 18 (months)
Leo 50 Bedside 20 18
Ray 36 Oncology 10 5
Ryan 37 Intensive care 17 11
Sean 46 Oncology 9 9
Simon 36 Oncology 5 5
Stuart 44 Bedside 6 4
Terrence 32 Bedside 10 6
Tim 39 Intensive care 20 15 (months)
Tobias 44 Oncology 25 7
Vern 50 Ambulatory care 7 7

Six identified their specialty as oncology, four were bedside nurses, two
were in intensive care, one managed an acute dialysis program, one was
an orthopedic nurse, one was in ambulatory care, one was in emergency,
and one was in surgery. The least experienced nurse had worked in the
field for five years; the most experienced had been a nurse for 26 years. I
initially recruited participants by soliciting attendees at the 2007 National
Black Nurses Association annual meetings and then used a snowball sam-
ple to create the remainder of the data set. All names and identifying
details have been changed to ensure confidentiality (see Table 1).
I conducted interviews during the fall of 2007. They generally took
place in either my campus office or a coffee shop located near the respon-
dent’s home or workplace. The average interview lasted about an hour.
Interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed. Interview questions pri-
marily focused on how race and gender shaped the men’s experiences as
nurses. Questions addressed respondents’ work history and current expe-
riences in the field, how race and gender shaped their experiences as
nurses, and their future career goals. The men discussed their reasons for
going into nursing, the reactions from others on entering this field, and the
particular challenges, difficulties, and obstacles Black men nurses faced.
Respondents also described their work history in nursing, their current
jobs, and their future plans. Finally, they talked about stereotypes of
 Harvey Wingfield / MEN’S EXPERIENCES WITH WOMEN’S WORK 15

nurses in general and of Black men nurses in particular and their thoughts
about and responses to these stereotypes. I coded the data according to key
themes that emerged: relationships with white patients versus minority
patients, personal bonds with colleagues versus lack of bonds, opportuni-
ties for advancement versus obstacles to advancement.
The researcher’s gender and race shape interviews, and the fact that I
am an African American woman undoubtedly shaped my rapport and the
interactions with interview respondents. Social desirability bias may com-
pel men to phrase responses that might sound harsh in ways that will not
be offensive or problematic to the woman interviewer. However, one of
the benefits of the interview method is that it allows respondents to clar-
ify comments diplomatically while still giving honest answers. In this
case, some respondents may have carefully framed certain comments
about working mostly with women. However, the semistructured inter-
view format nonetheless enabled them to discuss in detail their experi-
ences in nursing and how these experiences are shaped by race and
gender. Furthermore, I expect that shared racial status also facilitated a
level of comfort, particularly as respondents frequently discussed issues of
racial bias and mistreatment that shaped their experiences at work.

FINDINGS

The results of this study indicate that not all men experience the glass
escalator in the same ways. For Black men nurses, intersections of race
and gender create a different experience with the mechanisms that facili-
tate white men’s advancement in women’s professions. Awkward or
unfriendly interactions with colleagues, poor relationships with supervi-
sors, perceptions that they are not suited for nursing, and an unwillingness
to disassociate from “feminized” aspects of nursing constitute what I term
glass barriers to riding the glass escalator.

Reception from Colleagues and Supervisors

When women welcome men into “their” professions, they often push
men into leadership roles that ease their advancement into upper-level
positions. Thus, a positive reaction from colleagues is critical to riding the
glass escalator. Unlike white men nurses, however, Black men do not
describe encountering a warm reception from women colleagues (Heikes
1991). Instead, the men I interviewed find that they often have unpleasant
interactions with women coworkers who treat them rather coldly and
16 GENDER & SOCIETY / February 2009

attempt to keep them at bay. Chris is a 51-year-old oncology nurse who

describes one white nurse’s attempt to isolate him from other white
women nurses as he attempted to get his instructions for that day’s shift:

She turned and ushered me to the door, and said for me to wait out here, a
nurse will come out and give you your report. I stared at her hand on my
arm, and then at her, and said, “Why? Where do you go to get your
reports?” She said, “I get them in there.” I said, “Right. Unhand me.” I went
right back in there, sat down, and started writing down my reports.

Kenny, a 47-year-old nurse with 23 years of nursing experience, describes

a similarly and particularly painful experience he had in a previous job
where he was the only Black person on staff:

[The staff] had nothing to do with me, and they didn’t even want me to sit
at the same area where they were charting in to take a break. They wanted
me to sit somewhere else. . . . They wouldn’t even sit at a table with me!
When I came and sat down, everybody got up and left.

These experiences with colleagues are starkly different from those

described by white men in professions dominated by women (see Pierce
1995; Williams 1989). Though the men in these studies sometimes chose
to segregate themselves, women never systematically excluded them.
Though I have no way of knowing why the women nurses in Chris’s and
Kenny’s workplaces physically segregated themselves, the pervasiveness
of gendered racist images that emphasize white women’s vulnerability to
dangerous Black men may play an important role. For these nurses, their
masculinity is not a guarantee that they will be welcomed, much less
pushed into leadership roles. As Ryan, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse
says, “[Black men] have to go further to prove ourselves. This involves
proving our capabilities, proving to colleagues that you can lead, be on
the forefront” (emphasis added). The warm welcome and subsequent
opportunities for leadership cannot be taken for granted. In contrast, these
men describe great challenges in forming congenial relationships with
coworkers who, they believe, do not truly want them there.
In addition, these men often describe tense, if not blatantly discrimina-
tory, relationships with supervisors. While Williams (1995) suggests that
men supervisors can be allies for men in women’s professions by facilitat-
ing promotions and upward mobility, Black men nurses describe incidents
of being overlooked by supervisors when it comes time for promotions.
Ryan, who has worked at his current job for 11 years, believes that these
barriers block upward mobility within the profession:
 Harvey Wingfield / MEN’S EXPERIENCES WITH WOMEN’S WORK 17

The hardest part is dealing with people who don’t understand minority
nurses. People with their biases, who don’t identify you as ripe for promo-
tion. I know the policy and procedure, I’m familiar with past history. So you
can’t tell me I can’t move forward if others did. [How did you deal with
this?] By knowing the chain of command, who my supervisors were.
Things were subtle. I just had to be better. I got this mostly from other
nurses and supervisors. I was paid to deal with patients, so I could deal with
[racism] from them. I’m not paid to deal with this from colleagues.

Kenny offers a similar example. Employed as an orthopedic nurse in a

predominantly white environment, he describes great difficulty getting
promoted, which he primarily attributes to racial biases:

It’s almost like you have to, um, take your ideas and give them to somebody
else and then let them present them for you and you get no credit for it. I’ve
applied for several promotions there and, you know, I didn’t get them. . . .
When you look around to the, um, the percentage of African Americans
who are actually in executive leadership is almost zero percent. Because it’s
less than one percent of the total population of people that are in leadership,
and it’s almost like they’ll go outside of the system just to try to find a
Caucasian to fill a position. Not that I’m not qualified, because I’ve been
master’s prepared for 12 years and I’m working on my doctorate.

According to Ryan and Kenny, supervisors’ racial biases mean limited

opportunities for promotion and upward mobility. This interpretation is
consistent with research that suggests that even with stellar performance
and solid work histories, Black workers may receive mediocre evaluations
from white supervisors that limit their advancement (Feagin 2006; Feagin
and Sikes 1994). For Black men nurses, their race may signal to supervi-
sors that they are unworthy of promotion and thus create a different expe-
rience with the glass escalator.
Strong relationships with colleagues and supervisors are a key mecha-
nism of the glass escalator effect. For Black men nurses, however, these
relationships are experienced differently from those described by their
white men colleagues. Black men nurses do not speak of warm and con-
genial relationships with women nurses or see these relationships as facil-
itating a move into leadership roles. Nor do they suggest that they share
gendered bonds with men supervisors that serve to ease their mobility into
higher-status administrative jobs. In contrast, they sense that racial bias
makes it difficult to develop ties with coworkers and makes superiors
unwilling to promote them. Black men nurses thus experience this aspect
of the glass escalator differently from their white men colleagues. They
18 GENDER & SOCIETY / February 2009

find that relationships with colleagues and supervisors stifle, rather than
facilitate, their upward mobility.

Perceptions of Suitability
Like their white counterparts, Black men nurses also experience
challenges from clients who are unaccustomed to seeing men in fields
typically dominated by women. As with white men nurses, Black men
encounter this in surprised or quizzical reactions from patients who seem to
expect to be treated by white women nurses. Ray, a 36-year-old oncology
nurse with 10 years of experience, states,

Nursing, historically, has been a white female’s job [so] being a Black male
it’s a weird position to be in. . . . I’ve, several times, gone into a room and
a male patient, a white male patient has, you know, they’ll say, “Where’s
the pretty nurse? Where’s the pretty nurse? Where’s the blonde nurse?.” . . .
“You don’t have one. I’m the nurse.”

Yet while patients rarely expect to be treated by men nurses of any race,
white men encounter statements and behaviors that suggest patients
expect them to be doctors, supervisors, or other higher-status, more
masculine positions (Williams 1989, 1995). In part, this expectation
accelerates their ride on the glass escalator, helping to push them into
the positions for which they are seen as more appropriately suited.
(White) men, by virtue of their masculinity, are assumed to be more
competent and capable and thus better situated in (nonfeminized) jobs
that are perceived to require greater skill and proficiency. Black men,
in contrast, rarely encounter patients (or colleagues and supervisors)
who immediately expect that they are doctors or administrators.
Instead, many respondents find that even after displaying their creden-
tials, sharing their nursing experience, and, in one case, dispensing
care, they are still mistaken for janitors or service workers. Ray’s
experience is typical:

I’ve even given patients their medicines, explained their care to them, and
then they’ll say to me, “Well, can you send the nurse in?”

Chris describes a somewhat similar encounter of being misidentified by a

white woman patient:

I come [to work] in my white uniform, that’s what I wear—being a Black

man, I know they won’t look at me the same, so I dress the part—I said
 Harvey Wingfield / MEN’S EXPERIENCES WITH WOMEN’S WORK 19

good evening, my name’s Chris, and I’m going to be your nurse. She says
to me, “Are you from housekeeping?” . . . I’ve had other cases. I’ve
walked in and had a lady look at me and ask if I’m the janitor.

Chris recognizes that this patient is evoking racial stereotypes that Blacks
are there to perform menial service work. He attempts to circumvent this
very perception through careful self-presentation, wearing the white uni-
form to indicate his position as a nurse. His efforts, however, are nonethe-
less met with a racial stereotype that as a Black man he should be there to
clean up rather than to provide medical care.
Black men in nursing encounter challenges from customers that rein-
force the idea that men are not suited for a “feminized” profession such
as nursing. However, these assumptions are racialized as well as gen-
dered. Unlike white men nurses who are assumed to be doctors (see
Williams 1992), Black men in nursing are quickly taken for janitors or
housekeeping staff. These men do not simply describe a gendered
process where perceptions and stereotypes about men serve to aid their
mobility into higher-status jobs. More specifically, they describe inter-
actions that are simultaneously raced and gendered in ways that repro-
duce stereotypes of Black men as best suited for certain blue-collar,
unskilled labor.
These negative stereotypes can affect Black men nurses’ efforts to treat
patients as well. The men I interviewed find that masculinity does not
automatically endow them with an aura of competency. In fact, they often
describe interactions with white women patients that suggest that their
race minimizes whatever assumptions of capability might accompany
being men. They describe several cases in which white women patients
completely refused treatment. Ray says,

With older white women, it’s tricky sometimes because they will come
right out and tell you they don’t want you to treat them, or can they see
someone else.

Ray frames this as an issue specifically with older white women, though
other nurses in the sample described similar issues with white women of
all ages. Cyril, a 40-year-old nurse with 17 years of nursing experience,
describes a slightly different twist on this story:

I had a white lady that I had to give a shot, and she was fine with it and I was
fine with it. But her husband, when she told him, he said to me, I don’t have
any problem with you as a Black man, but I don’t want you giving her a shot.
20 GENDER & SOCIETY / February 2009

While white men nurses report some apprehension about treating women
patients, in all likelihood this experience is compounded for Black men
(Williams 1989). Historically, interactions between Black men and white
women have been fraught with complexity and tension, as Black men
have been represented in the cultural imagination as potential rapists and
threats to white women’s security and safety—and, implicitly, as a threat
to white patriarchal stability (Davis 1981; Giddings 1984). In Cyril’s case,
it may be particularly significant that the Black man is charged with giv-
ing a shot and therefore literally penetrating the white wife’s body, a fact
that may heighten the husband’s desire to shield his wife from this inter-
action. White men nurses may describe hesitation or awkwardness that
accompanies treating women patients, but their experiences are not
shaped by a pervasive racial imagery that suggests that they are potential
threats to their women patients’ safety.
This dynamic, described primarily among white women patients and
their families, presents a picture of how Black men’s interactions with
clients are shaped in specifically raced and gendered ways that suggest
they are less rather than more capable. These interactions do not send the
message that Black men, because they are men, are too competent for
nursing and really belong in higher-status jobs. Instead, these men face
patients who mistake them for lower-status service workers and encounter
white women patients (and their husbands) who simply refuse treatment
or are visibly uncomfortable with the prospect. These interactions do not
situate Black men nurses in a prime position for upward mobility. Rather,
they suggest that the experience of Black men nurses with this particular
mechanism of the glass escalator is the manifestation of the expectation
that they should be in lower-status positions more appropriate to their race
and gender.

Refusal to Reject Femininity

Finally, Black men nurses have a different experience with establishing
distance from women and the feminized aspects of their work. Most
research shows that as men nurses employ strategies that distance them
from femininity (e.g., by emphasizing nursing as a route to higher-status,
more masculine jobs), they place themselves in a position for upward
mobility and the glass escalator effect (Williams 1992). For Black men
nurses, however, this process looks different. Instead of distancing them-
selves from the femininity associated with nursing, Black men actually
embrace some of the more feminized attributes linked to nursing. In par-
ticular, they emphasize how much they value and enjoy the way their jobs
 Harvey Wingfield / MEN’S EXPERIENCES WITH WOMEN’S WORK 21

allow them to be caring and nurturing. Rather than conceptualizing caring

as anathema or feminine (and therefore undesirable), Black men nurses
speak openly of caring as something positive and enjoyable.
This is consistent with the context of nursing that defines caring as inte-
gral to the profession. As nurses, Black men in this line of work experi-
ence professional socialization that emphasizes and values caring, and this
is reflected in their statements about their work. Significantly, however,
rather than repudiating this feminized component of their jobs, they
embrace it. Tobias, a 44-year-old oncology nurse with 25 years of experi-
ence, asserts,

The best part about nursing is helping other people, the flexibility of work
hours, and the commitment to vulnerable populations, people who are ill.

Simon, a 36-year-old oncology nurse, also talks about the joy he gets from
caring for others. He contrasts his experiences to those of white men
nurses he knows who prefer specialties that involve less patient care:

They were going to work with the insurance industries, they were going to
work in the ER where it’s a touch and go, you’re a number literally. I don’t
get to know your name, I don’t get to know that you have four grandkids, I
don’t get to know that you really want to get out of the hospital by next
week because the following week is your birthday, your 80th birthday and
it’s so important for you. I don’t get to know that your cat’s name is
Sprinkles, and you’re concerned about who’s feeding the cat now, and if
they remembered to turn the TV on during the day so that the cat can watch
The Price is Right. They don’t get into all that kind of stuff. OK, I actually
need to remember the name of your cat so that tomorrow morning when I
come, I can ask you about Sprinkles and that will make a world of differ-
ence. I’ll see light coming to your eyes and the medicines will actually
work because your perspective is different.

Like Tobias, Simon speaks with a marked lack of self-consciousness

about the joys of adding a personal touch and connecting that personal
care to a patient’s improvement. For him, caring is important, necessary,
and valued, even though others might consider it a feminine trait.
For many of these nurses, willingness to embrace caring is also shaped
by issues of race and racism. In their position as nurses, concern for oth-
ers is connected to fighting the effects of racial inequality. Specifically,
caring motivates them to use their role as nurses to address racial health
disparities, especially those that disproportionately affect Black men.
Chris describes his efforts to minimize health issues among Black men:
22 GENDER & SOCIETY / February 2009

With Black male patients, I have their history, and if they’re 50 or over I ask
about the prostate exam and a colonoscopy. Prostate and colorectal death is
so high that that’s my personal crusade.

Ryan also speaks to the importance of using his position to address racial
imbalances:

I really take advantage of the opportunities to give back to communities,

especially to change the disparities in the African American community. I’m
more than just a nurse. As a faculty member at a major university, I have to
do community hours, services. Doing health fairs, in-services on research,
this makes an impact in some disparities in the African American community.
[People in the community] may not have the opportunity to do this otherwise.

As Lamont (2000) indicates in her discussion of the “caring self,” concern

for others helps Chris and Ryan to use their knowledge and position as
nurses to combat racial inequalities in health. Though caring is generally
considered a “feminine” attribute, in this context it is connected to chal-
lenging racial health disparities. Unlike their white men colleagues, these
nurses accept and even embrace certain aspects of femininity rather than
rejecting them. They thus reveal yet another aspect of the glass escalator
process that differs for Black men. As Black men nurses embrace this
“feminine” trait and the avenues it provides for challenging racial inequal-
ities, they may become more comfortable in nursing and embrace the
opportunities it offers.

CONCLUSIONS

Existing research on the glass escalator cannot explain these men’s

experiences. As men who do women’s work, they should be channeled into
positions as charge nurses or nursing administrators and should find them-
selves virtually pushed into the upper ranks of the nursing profession. But
without exception, this is not the experience these Black men nurses
describe. Instead of benefiting from the basic mechanisms of the glass
escalator, they face tense relationships with colleagues, supervisors’ biases
in achieving promotion, patient stereotypes that inhibit caregiving, and a
sense of comfort with some of the feminized aspects of their jobs. These
“glass barriers” suggest that the glass escalator is a racialized concept as
well as a gendered one. The main contribution of this study is the finding
that race and gender intersect to determine which men will ride the glass
escalator. The proposition that men who do women’s work encounter
 Harvey Wingfield / MEN’S EXPERIENCES WITH WOMEN’S WORK 23

undue opportunities and advantages appears to be unequivocally true only

if the men in question are white.
This raises interesting questions and a number of new directions for
future research. Researchers might consider the extent to which the glass
escalator is not only raced and gendered but sexualized as well. Williams
(1995) notes that straight men are often treated better by supervisors than
are gay men and that straight men frequently do masculinity by strongly
asserting their heterosexuality to combat the belief that men who do
women’s work are gay. The men in this study (with the exception of one
nurse I interviewed) rarely discussed sexuality except to say that they
were straight and were not bothered by “the gay stereotype.” This is con-
sistent with Williams’s findings. Gay men, however, may also find that
they do not experience a glass escalator effect that facilitates their upward
mobility. Tim, the only man I interviewed who identified as gay, suggests
that gender, race, and sexuality come together to shape the experiences of
men in nursing. He notes,

I’ve been called awful things—you faggot this, you faggot that. I tell peo-
ple there are three Fs in life, and if you’re not doing one of them it doesn’t
matter what you think of me. They say, “Three Fs?” and I say yes. If you
aren’t feeding me, financing me, or fucking me, then it’s none of your busi-
ness what my faggot ass is up to.

Tim’s experience suggests that gay men—and specifically gay Black men—
in nursing may encounter particular difficulties establishing close ties with
straight men supervisors or may not automatically be viewed by their
women colleagues as natural leaders. While race is, in many cases, more
obviously visible than sexuality, the glass escalator effect may be a compli-
cated amalgam of racial, gendered, and sexual expectations and stereotypes.
It is also especially interesting to consider how men describe the role
of women in facilitating—or denying—access to the glass escalator.
Research on white men nurses includes accounts of ways white women
welcome them and facilitate their advancement by pushing them toward
leadership positions (Floge and Merrill 1986; Heikes 1991; Williams
1992, 1995). In contrast, Black men nurses in this study discuss white
women who do not seem eager to work with them, much less aid their
upward mobility. These different responses indicate that shared racial
status is important in determining who rides the glass escalator. If that
is the case, then future research should consider whether Black men
nurses who work in predominantly Black settings are more likely to
encounter the glass escalator effect. In these settings, Black men
24 GENDER & SOCIETY / February 2009

nurses’ experiences might more closely resemble those of white men

nurses.
Future research should also explore other racial minority men’s expe-
riences in women’s professions to determine whether and how they
encounter the processes that facilitate a ride on the glass escalator. With
Black men nurses, specific race or gender stereotypes impede their
access to the glass escalator; however, other racial minority men are sub-
jected to different race or gender stereotypes that could create other expe-
riences. For instance, Asian American men may encounter racially
specific gender stereotypes of themselves as computer nerds, sexless
sidekicks, or model minorities and thus may encounter the processes of
the glass escalator differently than do Black or white men (Espiritu
2000). More focus on the diverse experiences of racial minority men is
necessary to know for certain.
Finally, it is important to consider how these men’s experiences have
implications for the ways the glass escalator phenomenon reproduces
racial and gendered advantages. Williams (1995) argues that men’s desire
to differentiate themselves from women and disassociate from the femi-
ninity of their work is a key process that facilitates their ride on the glass
escalator. She ultimately suggests that if men reconstruct masculinity to
include traits such as caring, the distinctions between masculinity and
femininity could blur and men “would not have to define masculinity as
the negation of femininity” (Williams 1995, 188). This in turn could cre-
ate a more equitable balance between men and women in women’s pro-
fessions. However, the experiences of Black men in nursing, especially
their embrace of caring, suggest that accepting the feminine aspects of
work is not enough to dismantle the glass escalator and produce more gen-
der equality in women’s professions. The fact that Black men nurses
accept and even enjoy caring does not minimize the processes that enable
white men to ride the glass escalator. This suggests that undoing the glass
escalator requires not only blurring the lines between masculinity and
femininity but also challenging the processes of racial inequality that mar-
ginalize minority men.

NOTE

1. I could not locate any data that indicate the percentage of Black men in nursing.
According to 2006 census data, African Americans compose 11 percent of nurses, and
men are 8 percent of nurses (http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/
08s0598.pdf). These data do not show the breakdown of nurses by race and sex.
 Harvey Wingfield / MEN’S EXPERIENCES WITH WOMEN’S WORK 25

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Adia Harvey Wingfield is an assistant professor of sociology at Georgia

State University. Her research focuses on the ways intersections of race,
gender, and class affect various race and gender groups in professional and
nonprofessional occupations. She is the author of Doing Business with
Beauty: Black Women, Hair Salons, and the Racial Enclave Economy,
which explores how intersections of race, gender, and class shape the expe-
riences of Black women entrepreneurs.