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Medical students’ attitudes towards women: a sex‐linked variable?
Author(s) -
SAVAGE WENDY D.,
TATE PAT
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
medical education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.776
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1365-2923
pISSN - 0308-0110
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1983.tb00656.x
Subject(s) - abortion , obstetrics and gynaecology , medical school , family medicine , sterilization (economics) , medicine , psychology , medical education , pregnancy , genetics , monetary economics , economics , foreign exchange market , biology , foreign exchange
Summary Two hundred and ten (95%) second‐year clinical students at the London Hospital Medical College answered a questionnaire before and after their 2‐month attachment in obstetrics and gynaecology, in an attempt to measure their attitudes to women and the subject being studied. In only six of the thirty‐two questions were there significant changes in the pre‐ and post‐course responses, and these related to abortion, sterilization and obstetric practice. Students did not often answer ‘don't know’ to the questions, and the most striking finding was that the responses of male and female students differed, with statistical significance at the 1% level in twenty‐six of the thirty‐two questions. The male students were more likely to agree with statements which stereotyped women in a negative way and this suggests that, unless active steps are taken by medical teachers to help students to question their attitudes, women will continue to complain about the way they are treated by the medical profession, and women doctors will not fulfil their potential.