Women in Medicine: The Great Balancing Act
It is still quite a way from it, but it has also come quite a distance from the past. Women in the medical profession, believe it or not, is now closer than ever to being equals to their male medical colleagues.
Some years ago women were confronted with a number of challenges too becoming doctors and finding careers in the medical field. Now you will find that there is actually a larger percentage of female graduates and more newly qualified female doctors than men. By their sheer number, women are making a big difference.
While many graduates are coming out with big dreams, the problem is two pronged. Sexism might still be prevalent among men towards women, but the other problem includes women limiting themselves when it comes to career progression.
The problem is not the lack of women in the field. There are many women and opportunities in the field, be it in surgery, general practice, urgent care. For example, I talked to Dr. Manuel Momjian from the Glendale Urgent Care Center, and he explains that they are among the medical centers who take pride in their continuous effort to find females in the health industry.
It may be hard to think that women have a hard time pushing to the upper echelons of their fields, especially since they have pushed as far as needed to be part of it. However, many studies will show that throughout history women doctors neither get commensurate compensation or advance as rapidly than their male counterparts. They have long faced inequality in resource allocation, and for this, they themselves are apprehensive and become tolerant of the situation.
Women also have to worry about a having the larger share of responsibility over their home, and ths affects many things. Firstly, the time they spend on their career to improve themselves or to mentor others is limited. Their priorities are split between career progression and their role as nurturing mothers at home. This applies not just to women in the medical field. This debate in priorities affects women everywhere, as the opportunity for career growth has slowly been increasing for them.
Women in the medical field are the epitome of a woman in a career-family balancing act. In working with people’s lives, you have to put your all. We all know one medical superwoman that we have looked up to for conquering such a tedious and challenging field. What we don’t see are the challenges that they face when not facing us. This is something to keep in mind and be grateful for, next time you pay a female medical practitioner a visit.
