Women In The ED

- Women comprise half of all medical students in the United States today, but will it stay that way? The advancement of women in medicine is not guaranteed. It requires continuing efforts to keep women in their place in the house of medicine. In the 1960s and '70s, 5-8% of medical students in the country were women. There was a huge change that happened then. When the women's rights movement hit, women gained access to reproductive rights and birth control and Congress changed things with passing Title IX, giving women access to advanced education in universities and increasing funding for medical student positions, and they couldn't discriminate based on gender to fill those positions. Following that, women now comprise 1/3 of physicians in this country, but still face big challenges. Women are underrepresented in virtually all levels of leadership, including academic and the private sectors. Sexual harassment is still pervasive. Women still bear a disproportionate share of home and family care, making work-life balance difficult. And the salaries of women physicians are 75% that of their male colleagues doing the exact same job. History reflects that advancements are made in fits and starts. It's going to require ongoing work to keep women in their very strong place in the house of medicine that they have today.