The historical stigma attached to men in nursing can be attributed to various factors, such as the enforcement of laws against male nurses in British history, the portrayal of nurses in the media, and gender bias. Even though men were the original caregivers in ancient times, Florence Nightingale's establishment of modern nursing as a female-only profession in the 1850s significantly marginalised men. This exclusion led to men being provided with inferior education and only being welcomed for their physical strength in specific caregiving settings. Even after the Nurses' Registration Act of 1919, which allowed men to be registered as nurses, the profession remained predominantly female. This gender imbalance is still evident today, with only 11% of all nurses being men.

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