ABSTRACT
Women outnumber men in two professions: medicine and education. In these, they have achieved equal pay, but not equal access to training and therefore to promotion. In medicine, nine out of ten nurses are women, but only one qualified doctor in four is a woman. Many women doctors do not practise medicine, for even though the National Health Service is short of doctors, the profession is unwilling to provide the opportunities of part-time work that would enable women to combine family commitments with a return to work. Thus, despite the fact that a quarter of qualified doctors are women, the number actually practising is much lower. In 1970, 14 per cent of hospital staff doctors were women, and only 12·2 per cent of general practitioners. There are also complaints that fewer women than before are being appointed to senior medical posts.
