Nurses' Professional Worlds, a Comparison in France and Japan

The movement called « Nurses’ Coordination », which appeared in France October 1988, was based on the demand of social recognition. We observed that the care of the vulnerable, practiced mainly by women, needed their appreciation.

In Japan, the arrival of this feminism was delayed with regard to the French situation and the philosophy expressed in "The second sex" (1949). However, today, in Japan, nurses’ interruption of career has been questioned. Through two surveys conducted in 2008 and 2012, we could observe that nurses’ feminism and their need of appreciation should adapt to the current policy of reorganization of health care. From this point of view, we could ask about the following development: « from project of the establishment to establishment of the project » (Cf. Mossé, Le lit de Procuste, 1997).

So, we could speak also about certains possibilities of "nurses of advanced practices", with diplomas by university at the level of master. These new practices, which could correspond to a new feminism, are considered as coordinating acts of caring patients in their complex life.