Open AccessWomen and medicine – the new agenda
Author(s) -
Paul Coombes
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
bulletin of the royal college of surgeons of england
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1478-7075
pISSN - 1473-6357
DOI - 10.1308/147363509x476546
Subject(s) - specialty , mythology , face (sociological concept) , alternative medicine , medicine , family medicine , medical education , public relations , political science , sociology , history , social science , pathology , classics
What is the impact on UK medicine of the increasing share of women entering the profession? Earlier this year the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) researched this issue in unprecedented detail in its report, Women and medicine: the future. Its starting point was distinctively different from the standard questions about the problems and obstacles that women face – questions that were appropriate historically when bias and barriers were prevalent across the profession but that have now, as the report reveals, been largely superseded. Its core findings on entry to medicine, choice of specialty, working arrangements and career advancement explode many persistent myths and misconceptions.