UK: Now three in five doctors aged under 30 are women: Fears for care standards as junior doctors fall pregnant

Submitted by Mastodon on Sat, 2013-10-19 17:58

Article here. Excerpt:

'Three out of five young doctors on hospital wards and in GP surgeries are women.

They made up 61 per cent of doctors under 30 last year and 46 per cent of those aged 30 to 50.

Figures show men remain dominant in the oldest age group, with women comprising less than a third of doctors over 50.

But the numbers suggest the medical takeover by women is slowing.

In 2012, 55 per cent of medical students were female, compared with 61 per cent in 2003 and 57 per cent in 2007.

Overall, almost half of GPs are women, or some 46 per cent, according to the General Medical Council.

Previous reports have found hospitals are facing staff shortages as a result of junior doctors becoming pregnant as soon as they receive their first secure job.'

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... but those who said such may happen if "too many" women became MDs were told to stop being so regressive/sexist. Sure, you could make the case that to make this kind of observation is sexist. But it's also a fair observation. Being an MD, esp. when starting out, requires a lot of dedication and time. New mothers are usually not as focused on work as they were before becoming mothers (a generalization, yes, but an accurate one). This is not to say new fathers who are also young MDs don't have issues too-- it's just as long as society has females doing (and them wanting to do) much of the newborn care work, this issue will come up. Of course, a female MD can always put off becoming a mother until she is older, but that'll have to be a conscious choice she has to make.

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Submitted by Matt on Sat, 2013-10-19 20:16