Occupation segregation is a persistent aspect of the labour market, and scholars have often researched what happens when women and men enter into what are seen to be ‘non‐traditional’ work roles for their sex. Research on men within women's roles has concentrated mainly on the challenges to a masculine identity, while research on workplace language has focused on women's linguistic behaviour in masculine occupations. To date, there has been relatively little research into the linguistic behaviour of men working in occupations seen as women's work (e.g., nursing, primary school teaching). To address this gap, this article focuses on men's discursive behaviour and identity construction within the feminized occupation of nursing. Empirical data collected by three male nurses in a hospital in Northern Ireland is explored using discourse analysis and the Community of Practice paradigm. This paper discusses how the participants linguistically present themselves as nurses by performing relational work and creating an in‐group with their nurse colleagues by actively using an inherently ‘feminine’ discourse style.

It is widely accepted among scholars that gender is socially constructed. Gender identity is not something one has but does, and language is one resource that is crucial when constructing, maintaining and performing one's identity. Recent sociolinguistic research has illustrated that a speaker's linguistic behaviour can be shaped by their surrounding context, and one such ever-growing area of study is that of workplace discourse, especially within jobs that could be classified as gendered. Scholars have focused mainly on women's linguistic behaviour in non-traditional employment (e.g. engineering). To date, there has been relatively little research into the linguistic behaviour of men working in occupations seen as 'women's' work (e.g. primary school teaching). To address this gap, this article focuses on men's discursive behaviour in the occupation of nursing to investigate whether they utilise language to perform a masculine identity in line with hegemonic characteristics, or whether they use the language indexical of the feminised environment in which they work. Empirical data collected from three male nurse participants within nurse-nurse interactions while at work in a Northern Ireland hospital are explored using discourse analysis and the 'community of practice' paradigm. Results indicate that the male nurses' discursive behaviour does not differ from that which sociolinguistic literature has repeatedly classed as 'feminine'. It is then argued that the nurses' language fulfils discourse tasks essential to the work role. In short, the men are doing being a nurse.

Does gender matter? A cross-national investigation of primary classroom discipline. Fewer than 15% of primary school teachers in both Germany and the UK are male. With the ongoing international debate about educational performance highlighting the widening gender achievement gap between girl and boy pupils, the demand for more male teachers has become prevalent in educational discourse. Concerns have frequently been raised about the underachievement of boys, with claims that the lack of male 'role models' in schools has an adverse effect on boys' academic motivation and engagement. Although previous research has examined 'teaching' as institutional talk, men's linguistic behaviour in the classroom remains largely ignored, especially in regards to enacting discipline. Using empirical spoken data collected from four primary school classrooms in both the UK and in Germany, this paper examines the linguistic discipline strategies of eight male and eight female teachers using Interactional Sociolinguistics to address the question, does teacher gender matter?

No abstract

No abstract