Careers of women physicians. Choices and constraints.

Abstract

During the past 20 years there has been a striking demo- graphic shift in American medicine.After a half cen- tury of constituting 5 % of the physician population, women will soon make up nearly a third of American physicians.Women now practice in virtually every medical specialty.This enormous change has created both opportunities and tensions.Individual preferences combine with social and cultural incentives and constraints to determine the career choices of women physicians.Within the broader context of the changing role of women in American society, women physicians are exploring new career paths-paths that are both similar to and different from those of their male colleagues.We review the literature about women physicians in an effort to understand how they are responding to the cur- rent environment.Career Choices DemographicsThe magnitude of change in the number of women physi- cians is remarkable.In 1985 there were 74,774 practicing women physicians, 14.6% of the total physician population and more than triple the 22,011 practicing in 1970.While this partly reflects a gradual increase in the total physician population from 312,047 in 1970 to 511,090 in 1985, an annual growth rate of 4.3 %, the average annual increase in the number of women physicians was nearly quadruple the overall rate-16%.Even these numbers slightly underesti- mate the magnitude ofthe change because they do not include medical students.1 Medicine is an increasingly attractive profession for women.The percentage of women college graduates ap- plying to medical school has tripled since 1970, going from 0.8 % to the current rate of 2.3 %.At the same time, there has been a drop from 4.9% to 4.2% in the percentage of male college graduates applying to medical school.Although this rapid growth appears to have recently plateaued, women now represent an unprecedented 31 % of medical school stu- dents.I

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