ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the evidence concerning the past and present working patterns and careers of women doctors in Britain, and how they compare with those of their male peers. In a situation where structural change may be slow to occur, special provision for those who have been discriminated against may be appropriate. Concern over the position and number of women doctors has also been expressed by feminists within and without the profession. The ‘maleness’ of medicine has been seen as a crucial factor in women’s experience of medical care as oppressive, e.g. as a result of the erroneous accounts of women’s sexuality enshrined in medical textbooks. The majority of ‘medical practitioners’ up to the nineteenth century were unlicensed though there were various ineffective attempts prior to the 1858 Act to limit medical practice to those qualified to do so.
