Influx of women could hit medicine's status, says top doctor

With women making up the majority of medical students, the future influence of the medical profession could be seriously affected and there could be a dearth of talent in surgical areas traditionally eschewed by female doctors, one of Britain's top female doctors has warned today.

Professor Carol Black, president of the Royal College of Physicians, told The Independent newspaper that by "feminising medicine", the status and influence of the traditionally male dominated profession would be threatened.

The complexion of the profession is changing – more than 60% of new doctors are women – and women could outnumber men within a decade, Prof Black told The Independent.

Prof Black said that the transformation of the gender balance in other industries had had a negative impact. A majority female representation in teaching had meant that many teachers, in her view, now do not "feel they are in a powerful profession any more".

Prof Black also drew comparisons with the medical profession in Russia, which is female dominated, and which is now "almost ignored by government".

"They have lost influence as a body that had competency, skills and a professional ethic. They have become just another part of the workforce. It is a case of downgrading professionalism," she said.

In a profession with fewer men, specialisms such as cardiology and gastroenterology could be hit.

"In medicine, they [women] choose to go into the specialties of dermatology, geriatrics and palliative care - not cardiology and gastroenterology where they are going to be required to work long hours. What worries me is who is going to be the professor of cardiology in the future? Where are we going to find the leaders of British medicine in 20 years time?" she said.

She also said that influence of the profession could also be hit as high-achieving females found it difficult to rise to the top of the profession – due to the competing demands of family life and career commitments.

Women was still under-represented in the top jobs, Prof Black said, as there was still no female dean of a medical school, no female head of a department of surgery and no female head of a department of medicine.

Prof Black said the gender ratio should be equally balanced – to ensure fairness and maintain status. This could be achieved, she said, through more medical schools accepting graduates; when male candidates had matured and caught up with their female counterparts.

Responding to Prof Black's interview, the British Medical Association (BMA) said that it did not want to see a "return to the old quota system of admitting women to medical school - the BMA believes in equality of access and opportunity".

In a statement, the association said: "However, we agree with Professor Black that there is an under-representation of women at the most senior levels of medicine and medico-politics and we would like to see this changed."

(gmcg)