Women in medicine

The presence of women in medicine, particularly in the practicing fields of surgery and as physicians, has been traced to the earliest of history.

Women have historically had lower participation levels in medical fields compared to men with occupancy rates varying by race, socioeconomic status, and geography.

An Egyptian of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Peseshet, described in an inscription as "lady overseer of the female physicians", is the earliest woman named in the history of science.

[8] The earliest known English women doctors, Solicita and Matilda Ford, date to the late twelfth century; they were referred to as medica, a term for trained physicians.

Once universities established faculties of medicine during the thirteenth century, women were excluded from advanced medical education.

[12] Documentation of female members in the guilds of Lincoln, Norwich, Dublin and York continue until late in the period.

[13] Dorotea Bucca, an Italian physician, was chair of philosophy and medicine at the University of Bologna for over forty years from 1390.

[18][19] Male medical writers refer to the presence of female practitioners (a ṭabība) in describing certain procedures or situations.

[18][19] The late-10th to early-11th century Andalusi physician and surgeon al-Zahrawi wrote that certain medical procedures were difficult for male doctors practicing on female patients because of the need to touch the genitalia.

The Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (香港華人西醫書院) was founded in 1887 by the London Missionary Society, with its first graduate (in 1892) being Sun Yat-sen (孫中山).

The college was aimed at the spreading of Christianity and modern medicine and the elevation of Chinese women's social status.

[32] In the 18th century, households tended to have an abundance of children largely in part to having hired help and diminished mortality rates.

[35] A sharp increase of women in the medical field led to developments in doctor-patient relationships, changes in terminology and theory.

[35] Author Wendy Kline noted that "to ensure that young brides were ready for the wedding night, [doctors] used the pelvic exam as a form of sex instruction.

[citation needed] In 1540, Henry VIII of England granted the charter for the Company of Barber-Surgeons;[40] while this led to the specialization of healthcare professions (i.e. surgeons and barbers), women were barred from professional practice.

[41] Women did continue to practice during this time without formal training or recognition in England and eventually North America for the next several centuries.

[41] Women's participation in the medical professions was generally limited by legal and social practices during the decades while medicine was professionalizing.

[44] At the beginning of the 21st century in industrialized nations, women have made significant gains, but have yet to achieve parity throughout the medical profession.

This study found that women accounted for 16% of deans, 21% of the professors, and 38% of faculty, as compared to their male counterparts.

[50][51] In several different areas of medicine (general practice, medical specialties, surgical specialties) and in various roles, medical professionals tend to overestimate women's true representation, and this correlates with a decreased willingness to support gender-based initiatives among men, impeding further progress towards gender parity.

Research on this issue, called the "leaky pipeline" by the National Institutes of Health and other researchers, shows that while women have achieved parity with men in entering graduate school, a variety of discrimination causes them to drop out at each stage in the academic pipeline: graduate school, postdoc, faculty positions, achieving tenure; and, ultimately, in receiving recognition for groundbreaking work.

[55][56][57][58] The "glass ceiling" is a metaphor to convey the undefined obstacles that women and minorities face in the workplace.

Female physicians of the late 19th-century faced discrimination in many forms due to the prevailing Victorian era attitude that the ideal woman be demure, display a gentle demeanor, act submissively, and enjoy a perceived form of power that should be exercised over and from within the home.

[60] This was the case until 1970, when the National Organization for Women (NOW) filed a class action lawsuit against all medical schools in the United States.

These women reported experiencing instances of exclusion from career opportunities as a result of their race and gender.

According to this article, females tend to have lessened confidence in their abilities as a doctor, yet their performance is equivalent to that of their male counterparts.

This study also commented on the impact of power dynamics within medical school, which is established as a hierarchy that ultimately shapes the educational experience.

[67][68] In comparison, The Juba College of Nursing and Midwifery in South Sudan (a country that gained its independence in 2011) graduated its first class of students in 2013.