Gender Inequality Within The Medical Profession

Conclusion This final section of the paper intends to briefly suggest solutions to the specific problems addressed throughout the paper. While some of the proposals have already been implemented and experienced high rates of success, most of them are strictly theoretical and require further research to explore their validity, as well as applicability. First, there must be a reform in maternity leave policies for women within the medical profession. Women in medicine are forced to postpone having children and in the cases of some, forfeit it completely. Osterweil reports that a sizable amount of female physicians say that if given the chance to do it all over again, “they might have tried to have children sooner, chosen a different specialty, or elected to have embryos frozen ‘just in case’ they had later fertility problems”. Medical schools and residency programs must take it upon themselves to change the way in which they require pregnant medical students, residents, and doctors to complete their assignments, tasks, and duties. Second, in order to better accommodate new mothers, schools …show more content…
Another solution to reduce gender inequality within the medical profession is to include a seminar regarding gender bias and discrimination awareness. This can be a mandatory component of medical school training that aims to teach male students how to avoid unintentional sexism as well as help female students identify instances of discrimination and additionally, provide them with the tools needed to handle any potential situations. It will also promote positive attitudes regarding women in medicine and encourage males to be sensitive to specific issues that women may face in the