Women in Medicine: From Background to Forefront

Historically, medicine has been a predominantly male profession. But a dramatic gender shift is taking place: 50 percent of those applying to U.S. medical schools for the academic year 2003-2004 were female, and nearly 40 percent of today's medical residents are women.

Numbers Up, Average Age Down

Source: American Medical Association Illustration by Chris Twichell

Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to receive a U.S. medical degree in 1849, and women remained a distinct minority in medicine until the last three decades of the 1900s. But by the end of the twentieth century, 42 percent of U.S. medical students were women, and by 2002 the percentage of physicians who were women had increased to 25.2 percent from a meager 7.6 percent in 1970 (see charts). The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) reported that in Massachusetts during 2003, the number of female applicants surpassed male applicants at three of the four medical schools in the state.

Not surprisingly, women physicians tend to be younger than their male counterparts. In 2002, more than twice as many women physicians as men were younger than 35. Conversely, more than three times as many males as females populate the ranks of physicians older than 65.

A vast majority of the growing number of female physicians (83 percent in 2002) provide direct patient care. Of that population, 62 percent specialize in either internal medicine, pediatrics, family practice, ob/gyn, psychiatry, or anesthesiology. Among the specialties that remain male-dominated is surgery, where men comprise 75 percent of residents.

Continuing Compensation Gap

Although the ranks of women in medicine are increasing, the national salary gap between male and female physicians remains significant. The September 2003 issue of Medical Economics reported that the typical female physician received an average of $55,000 less in total annual compensation than her typical male counterpart. This difference in salary may be explained in part by the fact that women physicians tend to choose lower-paying specialties and/or work fewer hours, but compensation inequities will become a "hot button" as more women enter the physician workforce.

The prevailing opinion is that women bring to medicine new perspectives and different communication and practice styles that will change patient care for the better. Organized medicine is in for some changes also, said Lynda Young, M.D., president of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "A greater number of women in medicine will mean more part-time or shared positions, more physicians working as employees rather than owning independent practices, and more physicians taking extended leave to raise families," she predicted. "Professional societies such as the MMS will have to adjust their structure and member relations to accommodate these changes."

The additional fact that women are already making leadership strides in organized medicine suggests that such changes are right around the corner.

-- Erin Riley

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