There have been sweeping changes in the past 50 years for women in medicine. The perception of the career choice of medical students has become a real issue as the student population is shifting towards a majority of female students. Despite this progress, the profession is not immune to the effects of sex and gender discrimination and segregation. Underscoring the magnitude of the problem, the Council on Graduate Medical Education (COGME) concluded in a report that: “Gender bias, a reflection of society’s value system, remains the single greatest deterrent to women achieving their full potential in every aspect of the medical profession and is a barrier throughout the professional life cycle” (Council on Graduate Medical Education (COGME), 1995) (Stratton & McLaughlin, 2005). The bias starts in the admissions process and continues into the basic science years, and the considerations of gender have been implicated in clinical experiences, patient care, clinical judgment and, most apparently, in medical career choice (Figueiredo, Rodrigues, Troncon , & Cianflone, 1997)
The focus of this paper is to provide some insight into the segregation of gender in the medical specialties and consider some of the factors that directly or indirectly influences students’ career choice.
Plight of gender segregation:
Similar to segregation due to sex labeling of jobs, there is substantial increase in segregation over time due to the increased concentration of men in predominantly ‘‘male’’ fields such as surgery, internal medicine and hospital specialties and the increased concentration of women in predominantly ‘‘female’’ fields such as obstetrics–gynecology, and pediatrics.
Focusing on some numbers, only 13% of all working surgery specialists ar...
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...x Discrimination in Selection for Residency." American Medical Association Journal of Ethics , 10 (7), 439-443.
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Stratton, T. D., & McLaughlin, M. A. (2005). "Does Students’ Exposure to Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment in Medical School Affect Specialty Choice and Residency Program Selection? "Academic Medicine , 80 (4), 400-408.
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In “Defining a Doctor,” Zuger compares specific behaviors and attitudes of the male and the female intern. Zuger begins to observe how her two interns handle medicine and how they connect with their patients on a personal level. Zuger finds the woman intern to be more prepared by how she brought notebooks and pens every day to work while the man intern would come with empty pockets instead. The women soon began to grow emotionally attached to her patients and would work late hours, sometimes not bothering to go home and rest. In contrast, the man showed up on time to work and would leave as scheduled. The woman would not only do her job to get more things done efficiently but she would even do others work while, the male intern wouldn’t attempt to do anyone else’s work other than his own. When it came to that time when their patient would pass, the women would cry while the male shrugged his shoulders. The women might have had a better relationship since it was easier for her to emotionally connect with her patient than the man. Zuger concludes that “The women cared too much” while “the man cared to little.” She worked too hard, and he could not be prodded into working hard enough. The women distinguish that her patient was “hers” and did everything she could to make to make them feel comfortable. From my experience, my mother is a great example of how she is similar to the woman intern. At her job, she feels the need to do everyone 's job in order to get things done and would come home feeling stressed. She has a great relationship with all of her employees and they would always come to her comfort. Just like the intern, she would put others before
...n including those of physicians and attorneys remained close to women, and the men still accounted for more than 95% of all of the doctors in 1900’s.” Women always believed that they were more than just your average housewives. Single workingwomen also began to doubt their virtues in life, because of the stereotypes that they were given based on their past occupations.
The once male dominated, corporate, "white collar" America has seen a phenomenal influx of women within the last thirty years. Although a female lawyer, physician, or CEO is no longer considered a rarity in our times, women still face quite a deal of oppression in comparison to their male counterparts. In retrospect, some professions have always been controlled by women, and men have not made a noticeable advance in these fields. In 1970, finding a female lawyer to represent you would be a difficult task, since less than five percent of the profession were women. Today, that number has risen to almost thirty percent. The percentage of female doctors has almost tripled in the course of thirty years. African Americans have not made such a conspicuous progression within the last fifty years, while women have made a tremendous impact on the corporate world. One may wonder, how did women make these extraordinary advances? For the most part, it is due to the education they receive. At the present time young girls are encouraged to enroll in classes dealing with math and science, rather than home economics and typing. As pointed out by Nanette Asimov, in her essay "Fewer Teen Girls Enrolling in Technology Classes", school officials are advocating the necessity of advanced placement, and honor classes for teenage girls, in both the arts and sciences. This support and reassurance than carries over onto college, and finds a permanent fixture in a woman’s life. While women are continuing their success in once exclusively male oriented professions, they are still lacking the respect and equality from their peers, coworkers, and society. The average male lawyer, and doctor make twenty-five percent more money than their female equivalent. Women have always lived with the reputation of being intellectually inferior to, and physically submissive to men. This medieval, ignorant notion is far fetched from the truth. In 1999, high school men and women posted similar SAT scores, being separated by a only a few points. In addition to posting similar scores on the SAT, the average males score was a mere two-tenths of a point higher than an average females score on the ACT. Even though a woman maybe as qualified as a male for a certain occupation , women receive unwanted harassment, and are under strict scrutiny. A good illustration of this would be the women represented in "Two Women Cadets Leave the Citadel.
When one thinks of health, we think of our physical well-being, we think of the medicines we have to take to ensure our recovery in cases of illness, we think white-washed halls, doctors, nurses, candy stripers in their hospital clothes, we think vegetables and fruit juice, and the rest of that wellness-junk that the television infomercials make us buy, we think of sickness, we think of death, we think of life. We do not, or rarely, think of the underlying sociological implications of health and illness, through which we unknowingly dictate our actions, and through which our health manoeuvres through. Beyond the biological and natural conditions, through which our health is dictated, are the sociological factors affecting our wellbeing. It has been shown that the spread of diseases is heavily influenced by culture and tradition, and clearly, our socioeconomic statuses. Health therefore is much more than just an amalgamation of biological factors, but it extends to more socially-constructed sectors of our beings. And all these factors tend to procure inequalities.
Although I contribute some of this to a “happy trigger” effect, there is no doubt that society puts pressure on men to have a career and women to balance both a family and career. In a course about women in science, these results might explain why women aren’t as accepted in science, why women don’t move toward the scientific field, and, therefore, it explains why it’s a male dominated field. If women are socialized to focus on both or only a family their entire lives, it’s more likely to move them away from a scientific career. It’s vital to examine women’s forced choice out of a career in order to take care of a family due to feelings of inadequacy, gender roles, guilt, and
There was seldom a mention of male and male students choosing to become nurses. Along with the belief of nursing being a career choice more female-directed, there was also the repeated mention of the career being for middle-class women (Price, 2008). Historically, women have been the dominant face of nursing and it has always been considered a suitable career for women, whereas most careers in the past would never be acceptable for a female. For some of the female students who were interviewed, this stereotype was part of a deferent to choosing nursing. They did not want to be thought of as a stereotypical women, and be casted into a mould of what most women choose (Price, Hall, Angus, & Peter, 2013). In a modern society, more and more women are wishing to push the boundaries on what use to be referred to as a male dominated territory. This is true in careers as well. Many females second guess their decision in choosing nursing due to
If I had to look back at the elementary school version of myself and someone mentioned the word nurse to me my first thought was that is a girl’s profession. While I was interested in medicine I never knew much about the careers in medicine. I have two older brothers, one become a computer analyst the other a computer programmer and my father was a mechanical engineer. In addition, nobody in my family had been involved in the medical field so I had no one to turn to gain knowledge about careers in medicine. Naturally I wanted to follow in my family’s footsteps so I decided I wanted a career in technology.
The medical field has a very diverse group of careers that all go toward helping people live healthier, better, and longer lives. Women, specifically, need the service of one important person in the medical field, and that person would be a doctor known as an obstetrician/gynecologist or OBGYN.
future career, that is to be an obstetrician, also known as an OB/GYN. Some of the topics that will be discussed in my paper are those pertaining to exactly what an obstetrician is and the requirements that are needed in order to become an obstetrition. These requirements will include the pyhsical and phsyschological personality traits of a potential obstetrician. The type of schooling that is nessecary, including the preperation that is available at Middlesex County College, and the average number of years that it takes in order to become an obstetrician. The demand for obstetricians will also be researched, along with the different promotional ranks that are available. Starting salaries, as well as potential salaries will be explained. The reasons as to why a career in obstetrics appeals to me and the other possible career choices that I may decide to persuade in the future.
Carol B. Muller, “The Underrepresentation of Women in Engineering and Related Sciences: Pursuing Two Complementary Paths to Parity.” National Academies Press (US); Web. 2003.
STEM is best known as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM for many years has been primarily seen as and stereotyped into a masculine work field. But as of recent years, while it expands, more and more women have been rising in these fields. However, there is still a tremendous gender gap between men and women in these fields and areas of work. The gender gap between men and women in STEM is alive and well. There is no denying that the gender gap between men and women in STEM is immense. But there instead are many sufficient reasons as to why there is such a huge gap between men and women within in fields. Some probable causes for the lack of women seen in these areas are biased towards women, unconscious bias girls receive
In the operation of the healthcare system, gender plays a central role. Gender discrimination in the healthcare exists either in the field of education, workplace or while attending to the patients. Interestingly, as opposed to other areas where discrimination lies heavily to a particular gender; gender inequality in health happens to both women and men. Gender inequality in the health care service negatively affects the quality of care given and perpetuates patient biases to a gender. Also, the gender disparities in the field of health assists researchers and practitioners to study conditions and their probable manifestations within both sexes.
...ld. Women are most often stereotyped as only being nurses or other lower-end health professionals. There is a huge difference between the percent of males and the percent of females when it comes to more advanced medical fields. A study conducted by Reed and Fischer found that women are not promoted at the same rate as men in medical fields. They feel that women are under-represented in higher medical positions. The CEJA found that there is a large difference in salaries between men and women. Studies show that the average female physician earns 34 percent less than her male counterpart. Female physicians are more likely to earn a relatively low income and are less likely to gain a relatively higher income. For example, while 19 percent of female physicians earned less than $60,000, only 7 percent of male physicians earned less than that same amount (CEJA, 1994).
Over the last years, attention to public health issues has been increasing as well as aspirations to high health standards. Medical professions are in high demand because of the need of constant improvements of the health care system. The medical field offers a wide range of valued career paths and opportunities that differentiate by their responsibilities, obligations, educational requirements, and salary. When considering a career in health care, it is very important to analyze all the aspects involved and then determine the choice that best fit the person needs.
...dilemma for young doctors." Medical Education 44.8 (2010): 805-813. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.