CORRESPONDENCE

Feminisation of the medical profession

To the Editor: The recent editorial lamenting the failure of the profession to have become 'gender neutral' mentioned, but did not quantify, the lower productivity of female doctors.¹

Six years ago, the independent hospitals in Britain organised a conference to discuss the long National Health Service waiting lists. One speaker, a Dr David Whitaker, said, 'The higher proportion of women doctors in Britain could aggravate matters. Female doctors currently work for 65% of their careers while male doctors work for 95%.'² It consequently appears that the taxpayer, who largely pays for medical education, gets a poor return for his investment in female doctors. At that time I tried, and failed, to find comparable figures for South African doctors and for the other major professions.

We are repeatedly told that there is a shortage of doctors in South Africa and elsewhere. Is it not time, perhaps, for medical schools to reconsider the gender ratio of entrants into the MB BCh programme?

Stephen A Craven

Honorary Lecturer in Family Medicine
University of Cape Town
sacraven@mweb.co.za

1. Ncayiyana DJ. Feminisation of the South African medical profession - not yet nirvana for gender equality. S Afr Med J 2011;101(1):5.         [ Links ]

2. Pallot P. Weekly Telegraph 20 - 26 April 2005;(717):36.         [ Links ]