Gender biases: why is he so driven and she so overlooked?
Jane MacDonald
Westmead Hospital, NSW, Australia
In the last 30 years there has been a gender revolution in
Australian Society. The participation of women in the
workforce has increased to the point where it is regarded as
“normal” for women to work.
In medicine 50-55% of first year medical students are female. 20%
of ANZCA fellows were female in 2002, and this percentage is rising
as 35% of trainees in that year were female. The increasing number
of women is occurring across all specialties with 43% of specialist
training positions in NSW being held by women in 2003. However,
women on average work less hours per week than men, and
increasingly are looking for more family friendly working hours.
How is this feminisation of the workforce affecting the culture of
our workplace?
In this presentation I will explore the history of medical women. I
will start with Margaret Bulkley who, disguised as James Barry, was
the first female medical graduate in the English speaking world
when she obtained a degree from Edinburgh University in 1812.
Elizabeth Blackwell was the first female American graduate in 1849
and Elizabeth Garret Anderson the first in the United Kingdom in
1870. In Australia Margaret Whyte was the first woman to graduate,
topping Medicine and Surgery in 1891 when she graduated from
Melbourne University. All these women had to fight against
significant opposition. Janet Greig became the first female
anaesthetist in Melbourne in 1902 and Gwen Wilson was the first
female to obtain the DA in 1945.
The gender revolution has brought with it not only changes in the
language of gender, but changes in attitude. Now women are no
longer driven by the need to prove they are equal. The critical
issue for them now is finding ways to balance work and life
successfully.
Ten years ago Dr Di Khursandi surveyed all the female members, and
randomly selected male members, of the ASA. The survey explored
gender issues in the personal and professional lives of
anaesthetists. The survey was prompted by the perception in
Australia that there were few women in executive and academic
positions. Was this due to the so-called “glass
ceiling”. Particular issues identified in the survey were
combining anaesthetic training with domestic responsibilities, the
single anaesthetist, doctor-doctor marriages, part-time work,
attitudes of colleagues to women, career paths and financial
problems. In reviewing the situation ten years on the glass ceiling
appears to have dissolved. Many problems have been addressed. How
are things on the coalface now for women anaesthetists and how is
this gender revolution affecting our male colleagues?
ANZCA Work Force Survey 2002
Holmes, Rachel The Secret Life of Dr James Barry Victorian
England’s Most Eminent Surgeon Tempus Publishing Ltd,
Gloucestershire UK 2007
Mackay, Hugh Advance Australia…Where? Hachette
Australia 2007
Sobecks, N.W. et al When Doctors Marry Doctors: A survey
Exploring the Professional and Family Lives of Young
Physicians Ann Intern Med 1999 Vol 30 No. 4 (part 1)
Strange Khursandi, D.C. Unpacking the Burden: Gender Issues in
Anaesthesia Anaesthesia and Intensive Care 1998;
26: 78-85
Wilson, Gwen One Grand Chain the History of Anaesthesia in
Australia 1846-1962 vol 1, and 1934-1962 vol 2 ANZCA Melbourne
1995
www.health.nsw.gov.au/workforce/doctors/section2med2000.pdf
