REFLECTIONS OF THE PAST ON CURRENT BRAZILIAN NURSING: FIGHTS, ACHIEVEMENTS, CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES

Objectives: to study the history of nursing in Brazil and to establish a historical and social pattern of female participation in the profession. The study also looked at the current situation. Method: theoretical, reflective study, based on findings in the literature on the historical evolution of nursing. Results: current professional practice still echoes the circumstances experienced in the past by women's relationship with the progress of health care. In addition to the female role in the structuring of nursing, the intimate connection between the social construction of women and the stereotypes projected on this profession, still imposes greater difficulties in the fight for the recognition of nursing as a science. Conclusion: the way in which the profession was constituted contributed for nursing to be linked to sexualization and machismo. However, it has become a profession with a scientific and technical basis. Demeaning women and reducing them to their bodies is at odds with current female achievements.