Research team: Naomi D Quinton, Sue Kilminster, Trudie Roberts
During the past 10 years there has been a significant increase in the number of women in medicine (for example, female hospital consultants and General Practitioner principals have increased from 19% and 30% respectively to 28% and 42% and there are increasing proportions of women entering speciality training). Despite this, medicine still demonstrates horizontal (women concentrated in certain areas of work) and vertical (women under represented at higher levels of the professions) segregation. There have also been significant changes to speciality training in the past 3 years. Gender differences exist in the numbers applying to and succeeding in various specialities: women are more likely to be successful in gaining a training place if they apply to certain specialties (for e.g., Urology, Respiratory Medicine, Anaesthetics and General Surgery) but, over all specialities, women are not choosing to apply for the most competitive specialties. There has been much debate about the consequent implications for the delivery of healthcare and practice of medicine. We have previously documented (Kilminster et al, 2007) the evidence, issues and explanations about the changing gender composition in medicine.
The purpose of this project is to investigate women doctors’ choices and careers at crucial points during both their undergraduate and postgraduate training and in their further medical careers. The objectives are:
- to investigate what specific explicit and implicit barriers to progression women identify
- to determine to what extent doctors perceive a male-dominated culture within medicine and how this affects their decisions and practice
- to identify the strategies women develop to 'cope' with the pressures generated by a career in medicine
- to establish a cohort of women doctors for an extended longitudinal study on gender and medicine and to develop the basis for an application for further funding from an appropriate source.
