ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the history of women in medical schools and at the history of employment patterns in the twentieth century. The history of medical school selection shows that till very recently there have been strict controls on women’s entry to the profession. Women doctors as a group have little power to influence decisions that affect their employment prospects, notably in the alteration of educational requirements to serve staffing needs. The explanation of the concentration of women doctors in particular sectors of medicine must involve consideration of their position in society as a whole, and the sexual division of labour in the family, a division seldom questioned by those who complain of women doctors’ wastage. There are numerous studies of women doctors’ wastage but very few of men’s. The chapter suggests that analyses of the activity of women in medicine must go beyond explanations in terms of women’s problems’, the conflicting demands of home and work responsibilities.
