Professor Tania Das Gupta didn’t intend to study racism in nursing, but since she was often called as an expert witness in racial discrimination cases involving nurses, she thought she’d take a closer look. What she learned surprised her, so she documented her findings in a book, Real Nurses and Others: Racism in Nursing.

Das Gupta thought most of the racism toward nurses would come from their patients or maybe their managers, but in fact the majority came from other nurses (27.3 per cent). “It raises the whole issue of co-worker racism in a union environment,” says the chair of York’s School of Social Sciences in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. The patients were the next most likely group to express racism (23.8 per cent), followed by doctors (14.3 per cent) and nursing managers (12.8 per cent).

Tania Das Gupta

“It’s very systemic. It’s very difficult to put your finger on it,” says Das Gupta. “I would call it a new racism. It didn’t have the mark of the kind of racism we’re used to. It doesn’t use the language of racism. This new racism is very subtle.”

And, she adds, “It’s difficult to prove in the court system.” Still, a group of nurses alleging racial harassment for having been fired did win their case in 1994. It was the first case in which Das Gupta was called to be an expert witness. “This was a landmark case in Ontario and Canada. It was the first time the Human Rights Commission took up these complaints as a systemic case,” she says. After that, Das Gupta continued to be called. Eventually, she decided to study racism in nursing.

Her research

She employed a multi-level approach and used a developed theoretical framework that takes a race, gender and class approach to looking at how racism takes place in an occupation where the vast majority are women.

A survey was sent out to all nurses from the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA); 593 responded out of some 40,000 – what Das Gupta calls the largest single sample of Ontario nurses of which she’s aware. She also conducted 18 interviews and looked through other arbitration cases.

Striking findings

“There were some findings that you go, ‘Oh my God, is that right?’” says Das Gupta:

• Prevalence: the nurses were asked if they had ever been made to feel uncomfortable because of their race, colour or ethnicity, and 82 per cent of black/African Canadian nurses, 80 per cent of Asian nurses, 57 per cent of Central/South American nurses, 50 per cent of South Asian nurses and 25 per cent of white/European nurses said yes.

• Reporting: most don’t take the issue to their union; they tend to try and handle it on their own. Over 14 per cent reported that any action they took had no effect on the harassment.

• Relationships: 58.1 per cent of black/African nurses and 48.3 per cent of Asian nurses perceived that their race, ethnicity or colour affected their relationship with their colleagues, while 54.8 per cent of black/African nurses, 46.7 per cent of Asian and 44.4 per cent of South Asian nurses said it affected their relationship with their manager.

Both those relationships can affect job promotion. “There’s a pattern of differential treatment,” says Das Gupta. Over 40 per cent of black/African nurses and over 30 per cent of South Asian nurses reported their race, ethnicity or colour affected their access to training opportunities in the workplace. Somewhat fewer indicated their performance reviews were also affected. Das Gupta wonders why the ONA hasn’t done more.

The next step

“There’s no one institution that’s not affected by systemic racism. I think there’s a role for government, unions, employers and even community groups to play,” says Das Gupta. She suggests that one of the first places it should start is in the schools of nursing, where racism can be dealt with head on. In fact, she says, it may be a good idea for them to read Real Nurses, the title of which came from the experience of one black nurse who was always asked if she was a “real” nurse. Her response was always the same, to say yes she was a “real” nurse; that RN (registered nurse) stood for “real” nurse.

Related

• Six research projects just got a giant boost
• $1-million grant backs research on marginalized urban youth

Alumni Matters Home