Very rarely have the women been allowed to report their point of views (Bunting & Campbell, 1990). This is especially true for the profession of nursing because men have usually been the theorists and researchers of this profession. Very few women in history have actually had a chance to record their views and theories about the nursing profession. However, one very pertinent example to illustrate this point will be the vital contributions of Florence Nightingale to the profession of nursing. "Nightingale wrote Notes on Nursing because she recognized that women's education left them ignorant of their own bodies and lacking in knowledge needed to carry out their responsibilities while caring for the sick. In her closing note, Nightingale cautions her sisters against doing what men do merely because men do it, and against doing what women do merely because it is prescribed for them by society (Chinn & Wheeler, 1985, p. 77)".

             This observation by Nightingale is ample proof to demonstrate the historical pattern of gender bias is the profession of nursing. It is worth noting that men had not been solely responsible for gender discrimination against female nurses because throughout the 1970"s, the female workers belonging of the feminist movement disregarded the profession of nursing as they designed plans to overcome the hurdles in professions dominated by the males. On one hand, while encouraging young women to practice medicine, on the other hand, they were discouraging them to practice nursing. .

             It is very important to note that gender discrimination against women in the nursing should have been researched, evaluated, edited and published by women alone so that this issue (gender bias) can be assessed from a women"s perspective. However, as stated above, rarely have women been considered for the job of doing research and analysis. This is especially true for nursing. Harding writes, "Unfortunately for nursing (and women), whoever gets to define what counts as a scientific problem also gets a powerful role in shaping the picture of the world that results from scientific research (Harding, 1991, p.