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]

Add to CiteULike CiteULike Add to Complore Complore Add to Connotea Connotea Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us Add to Digg Digg Add to Reddit Reddit Add to Technorati Technorati What's this?

Relevant Articles

Career progression and destinations, comparing men and women in the NHS: postal questionnaire surveys: Kathryn S Taylor, Trevor W Lambert, and Michael J Goldacre
BMJ 2009 338: b1735. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Why is this news?: Sacha C Haworth
BMJ 2008 336: 848. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Sweden is a good model: Rosalind M Duhs
BMJ 2008 336: 848. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Are there too many middle class doctors?: Des Spence
BMJ 2008 336: 894. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Are there too many female medical graduates? Yes: Brian McKinstry
BMJ 2008 336: 748. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Taylor, K. S, Lambert, T. W, Goldacre, M. J (2009). Career progression and destinations, comparing men and women in the NHS: postal questionnaire surveys. BMJ 338: b1735-b1735 [Abstract] [Full text]
Firth-Cozens, J (2008). Doctors with difficulties: why so few women?. Postgrad. Med. J. 84: 318-320 [Abstract] [Full text]
Haworth, S. C (2008). Why is this news?. BMJ 336: 848-848 [Full text]
Duhs, R. M (2008). Sweden is a good model. BMJ 336: 848-848 [Full text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

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
bmj.com, 5 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Feminisation of the medical profession....: Kathryn McCarthy
bmj.com, 5 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Re: Should we cap the number of women entering medical school?: Rosalind M. Duhs
bmj.com, 5 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Back to the kitchen sink then?: Martha Scott
bmj.com, 5 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Preliminary study on increasing feminine matriculation in a developing country: Alberto E D'Ottavio, et al.
bmj.com, 5 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Are there too many female Drs?: Helen J Miller
bmj.com, 7 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Why Is This News?: Sacha C Haworth
bmj.com, 7 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Another Crisis!: Nancy Blake
bmj.com, 9 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Is this really the 21st century?: Iris P. Gonzalez, M.D.
bmj.com, 9 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Too many men or too many women: Maria Bauer
bmj.com, 9 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Far play for women doctors and their families: Morris Greenberg
bmj.com, 9 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Too many women in medicine?: GEORGE Y. CALDWELL, et al.
bmj.com, 10 Apr 2008 [Full text]
The personal is professional: Finola C Lynch
bmj.com, 10 Apr 2008 [Full text]
'Are there ever enough women?': Kirsty E Zealley
bmj.com, 11 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Let the job market self-regulate: Eleni T. Petridou, et al.
bmj.com, 12 Apr 2008 [Full text]
Aren't we missing the point?: Julie A Teague
bmj.com, 23 Jun 2008 [Full text]