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I know this is changing but why are most doctors men? Especially in the old days it was almost entirely men who were doctors but even to day you will find far more many men doctors than women doctors. Why is that?
Historically females were not given access to the type of elementary, high school and college education (pre med) that prepared them for medical school. Indeed until laws changed many colleges in the United States (including most all the Ivy League) were male only. That also applied to their post graduate schools such as law, medicine, etc...
All across the United States you had separate elementary, high school and even colleges for boys and girls. The girl's schools often lacked courses/teachers in hard math and sciences that form the basis for medical school.
In both Europe and the United States some women did manage to make it into medical school but they were far and few between. Those that did often faced rampant discrimination both in school, and as residents and interns. With no sexual harassment or discrimination laws until the 1970's all female doctors could do was "tough it out", if they survived at all. Many who did get through it did so by showing they were just as tough as the boys.
Other reasons:
Cultural bias - Medicine like all the other sciences were deemed the domain of men. Women simply lacked the "brains" to grasp such things. It was also deemed "not lady like" for a respectable woman to see and do the sort of things doctors did; well outside of her own home.
When Florence Nightingale and others made the profession of nursing "respectable" for "decent" women/girls that is where females were shunted if they showed any interest in medicine. Nursing schools and hospital floors were full of women who wanted to be physicians but got "sent" into nursing.
Late as the 1950's or early 1960's if a female high school student wanted to take the advanced math and science classes required for college pre-med she likely would have been talked out of it and sent down the path to nursing. One common line was that she would be "taking the place" of a male student if she chose that path.
Things in the USA did not really change until Title 9 was passed in 1972. That federal law made sexual discrimination in federally funded education illegal. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
When you look at the numbers, beginning around the 1980's female physicians begin to explode. Much of that growth can be attributed to various laws and lawsuits breaking down discriminatory barriers to females becoming physicians.
Irony of it all is that while Title 9 and other laws helped women become doctors and or enter other previously male dominated professions, they also began abandoning many of those traditionally dominated by women. Beginning in the 1970's and lasting until rather recently in most of the USA there has been a acute shortage of nurses. Females simply had other career options and they chose different paths.
This being about the United States of course the matter of money comes into play.
Back in the day before federal, state, and local financial aid, student loans, etc... paying for college much less medical school was often out of reach for all but the most well off families. True some men worked their way through school. Others had wives and or family supporting them as well.
Long as a non-neutral party was providing funds many balked at sending a woman to medical school. It was just seen as a "waste" as she never would finish and or even if she did would soon leave to assume the proper place of a decent woman; that of a wife and mother.
I see no reason why women aren't just as capable as pursuing such a career as men.
Its not that they're not capable. Or that women aren't pursuing careers in medicine. There are probably about as many female doctors as there are males. But far fewer women in medicine work full time compared to the men. Many of these women are married to professional men who work full-time so they don't really need the income. They choose to stay home more to raise kids, and they work if and when they want to. That often changes once they get past child-bearing age and their kids are grown.
And there's more. If she's married to a male physician there's a better than good chance that she will end up being a divorced single parent (due to him cheating with other women---which happens a LOT). The way it usually works is that she'll (deservedly) get the house and most of his money afterwards so she really has no need to work full time anymore anyway. And a part time regimen works well for a single parent with younger kids.
Usually somebody starts studying to be a doctor around the age of 18 in college when they start premed and then medical school and will get an MD sometime in their mid 20s so I see no reason why women aren't just as capable as pursuing such a career as men. As for families, men have to play a role too and in this day and age usually both mom and dad are working full time.
Wish more of the responses came from those actually involved with medicine or nursing. That would week out many of the "probably", "maybe" and other guesses.
Medical school is not for everyone and that includes women.
For all the modern advances in society a female's natural fertility remains pretty much where it has always been. After graduating college, four years of medical school and then three years or so or intern then residency a woman will be approaching her late twenties. If she wants to marry and have children that clock is ticking. The prime years when a male med student is concentrating on residency, future speciality and building up a practice a female is doing the same but with the added worry about having and raising children.
For the record many female med students *are* married and or have children. They and their husbands work around post grad residency as best they can.
Many female physicians today are the daughters and or granddaughters of doctors and have made a decision *not* to run their practice along similar lines. They want to be at home with their husbands and children; not always on call, at the hospital, or in the office. So they make choices about which specialty to pursue that will give them what they think will be a proper work/life balance.
women value relationships more than men do. simple as that.
being a doc means relationships get pushed to the side. career ends up being #1. an avg. person (including men) would rather not live like that. after all, you are not guaranteed to live a happy life or to a certain age. all you have is today. the avg. person also prefers not just family time but work life balance. i know of no one that would choose an 80 hour workweek so he can live in a bigger house than someone who will take 40 hours and the rest will be spent with his wife kids and his hobbies (watching the nfl, hanging with his friends). the ppl. who do go into this line of work do it for a sense of ego, a sense of personal joy/satisfaction, and very very few for money (the money is not worth it if you calculate all the years you spent studying hard math and sciences and all those years of labor, mostly internships, research projects, etc).
I agree with everyone who stated that women, as a rule, have less time to devote to the profession. They may be physicians, but perhaps they aren't actually practicing as many hours as a male physician.
Had a female dentist, she was excellent except for one thing: availability. Way too often she had to leave the office to tend to a sick child. Whereas most of the male dentists stay on the job the majority of each work day.
Doesn't matter if it's 2015 or not, because for the majority of working women (performing any type of job), the bulk of taking care of the children and the home still falls on them.
I agree with everyone who stated that women, as a rule, have less time to devote to the profession. They may be physicians, but perhaps they aren't actually practicing as many hours as a male physician.
Had a female dentist, she was excellent except for one thing: availability. Way too often she had to leave the office to tend to a sick child. Whereas most of the male dentists stay on the job the majority of each work day.
Doesn't matter if it's 2015 or not, because for the majority of working women (performing any type of job), the bulk of taking care of the children and the home still falls on them.
Lol... My twin brother and I were pretty much raised by a nanny as my doctor mom and lawyer dad worked insane amounts of hours during the week. Weekends however were spent doing things with us ( when she wasn't doing her " rounds" at the hospital or preforming an emergency surgery). We spent a lot more time doing things with dad rather than mom.
Great post BugsyPal. I had no idea women were discriminated across all domains like that. I only knew about discrimination in medicine and science.
This growing "problem" with professional career women balancing their family lives is a new problem. I would say it is now considered normal to see a woman have a successful career and family. Because women now make up such a large part of our workforce, we are now seeing these new problems with increased cost of training and decreased availability. In order to achieve, one must sacrifice and the more one wants to achieve, the greater the sacrifice. Is is more socially acceptable for a man to devote himself to his work and neglect his family than it is for a women to do the same thing.
1. My father had a PCP who was about 50 years old. He really liked her, but she gave up medicine because it was too complicated for her to practice and care for a ten year old daughter and twelve year old daughter she had. I met the daughters one day when she came out to my father's house to conduct a brief examination.
2. My MIL frequently commented on how difficult being the wife of a physician was. She was concerned that if women became physicians, there would be no spousal equivalent at home to do all the things she said she had to do. She claimed to have even written a letter once to the dean of a medical school about this topic, asking them to "be careful" before they admitted too many women. Amazing how "sexism" affects both sexes.
3. I knew several friends whose fathers were physicians when I was growing up. In the 1960's it was not ordinary for a married woman to work outside her home. However, no wife of any of these physicians ever dreamed of working outside their home. Dr. A delivered babies and his schedule could be very erratic. The family had difficulty planning any activity where it was guaranteed that the father would be present. I do wonder how married women physicians with children manage even in this day.
4. When I was young, I was lead to believe (perhaps falsely) that men had more of aptitude for science and math than women did. However, at the time it was virtually an article of faith. Women, on the other hand, were felt to be more talented in English, art, and foreign languages. This undoubtedly influenced many in their career choices.
5. Someone commented on the sheer strength needed in some fields like orthopedic surgery. My FIL was an orthopedic surgeon and during his residency had a woman in the program. He commented on the difficulty she had setting some fractures and I believe he claimed that she actually sometimes climbed right up on an operating table to get the job done. It must have been very difficult for her.
There are many underlying cultural factors that have accounted--until recently-- for a dearth of women physicians.
These factors are not limited to the medical profession. I practice law and I have observed that while there are now many women lawyers that most choose to avoid litigation and often choose a branch of law, like taxation, that keeps them in the office. There are exceptions, but I would estimate that in my field, civil litigation, its about 80% male and 20% female. Litigation can be demanding, contentious work. My hunch is this is also the result of culture factors and some implicit notions about "how women ought to act".
Culture has and still does much to shape the way we act.
Last edited by markg91359; 04-11-2015 at 10:10 PM..
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