Are there too many female medical graduates? No

doi:10.1136/bmj.39505.566701.94

BMJ 2008;336:749 (5 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.39505.566701.94

Head to Head

Are there too many female medical graduates? No

Jane Dacre, vice dean, academic vice president

¹ Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, ² Royal College of Physicians, London

jdacre@medsch.ucl.ac.uk

UK universities are now producing more female doctors than male.Brian McKinstry (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39505.491065.94) argues weare risking future staffing problems, but Jane Dacre thinksthere is still some way to go before we reach true equality

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Medicine needs and wants to attract the best and brightest people,whatever their sex. Some patients prefer to see the same sexdoctor as themselves¹ ²—so we should ideally have equalnumbers of men and women.

As the first female dean of Duke University School of Medicinesaid incredulously, after her appointment had made the headlineson national public radio, "Brilliance and ability are not restrictedto certain groups, so it seems logical that if they draw fromthe widest possible talent pool, the very best institutionswill naturally have diversity at all levels."³

Medicine is a caring profession. The attributes of the doctoras documented in the UK General Medical Council’s GoodMedical Practice include care, consideration, dignity, and respect.⁴The Royal College of Physicians working party on medical professionalismhas agreed that doctors should be committed to integrity, compassion,altruism, continuous improvement, excellence, and working inpartnership.⁵ Although . . . [Full text of this article]

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Rapid Responses:

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Yes but: Peter A West
bmj.com, 4 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Gender and ability to practice medicine: Carl J Reynolds
bmj.com, 4 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Should we cap the number of women entering medical school?: Susan J. Ward
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Feminisation of the medical profession....: Kathryn McCarthy
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Re: Should we cap the number of women entering medical school?: Rosalind M. Duhs
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Back to the kitchen sink then?: Martha Scott
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Another Crisis!: Nancy Blake
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The personal is professional: Finola C Lynch
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'Are there ever enough women?': Kirsty E Zealley
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Let the job market self-regulate: Eleni T. Petridou, et al.
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Aren't we missing the point?: Julie A Teague
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