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Why Your Doctor Is More Likely to be a Woman
You’ve Come A Long Way….
Elizabeth Blackwell was only allowed to enter Geneva Medical College in New York because those who ok’d her application were certain she wasn’t serious about becoming a doctor. When she graduated at the very top of her class, Elizabeth proved that she was indeed in earnest and that women can be doctors.
In areas where once they were excluded, like medicine and law, women are not closing the educational gap anymore, they are creating it. This first medical school graduate made history in 1849. Now, 152 years later, the tables have turned for students earning upper degrees in some disciplines. According to this census, 9 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 29 have earned either a master’s or doctoral degree. Men in the same age range are represented by 6% who have obtained this same level of education.
Onward and Upward
- In 2000 women represented 44% of those with upper division degrees
- By 2008 they had pulled in the lead – just barely – with 50.4%
- In 2009 60% of the doctoral degrees being awarded went to women.
So you can see they are continually gaining ground over their male counterparts. It will be interesting what the census for 2011 reveals for this upward trend.
The Flip Side
This change is most apparent in the disciplines of medicine, law and education. While women who hold a doctorate in these fields outnumber the men, there are other areas where men continue to dominate. Math, engineering and computer sciences are represented by more men than women. The rising generation is therefore more likely to have female doctor, lawyer and professors, but continue to have male engineers, webmasters and mathematicians.
Women who specialize in a particular medial field continue to represent a smaller number than men in specialties. The growing trend suggests that this ratio will also be shifting in the coming years. Only time will tell the full story – but in the field of medicine – women have emerged and have begun to take the lead.
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Author: MargoSmith
Margo Smith earned her B.S. from Brigham Young University. She lives along the Wasatch Front and loves the beauty and solidity of the Rocky Mountains she calls home. She is an eager learner, an avid reader, and a firm believer that people are basically good at heart. Word play is her favorite past time and patterns/tessellations of any kind fascinate her. She thanks her Irish luck - gotta love that gene pool - that she is usually the driver behind the police car, rather than the one in front. Follow her on twitter
2 Comments
We’ve seen a lot of docs recently, and only one (a neuropsychologist) was a man. Everyone else, from the nurse practitioner to the oncologist, has been a woman.
Of course, I seek out women doctors because I have daughters, and our NP is a dear family friend who loves my kids like her own, but there are far more women than men available, especially in our small rural area.
That’s interesting to hear. I live in an area of the country where, despite the picture the media presents, males still seem to dominate all the top level jobs – no matter the field. That said, I sometimes wonder if the real test of gender equality will be when it does not matter whether or not the person is male or female – so long as s/he is best suited to the demands of the job.