Medical women: internet resource
July 2006
Medical students
The BMA Board of Medical Education’s report, 'The demography of medical schools: a discussion paper' (2004) - read more here, analysed trends in the composition of medical students by gender, age, and ethnicity (see reference 16). It reported that the percentage of accepted applicants who were female increased from 54 per cent in 1996 to 61 per cent in 2003. Given the large number of women studying medicine, medical schools need to grasp the opportunity to highlight the benefits of flexible training and a gender balanced workforce. Effective mentoring and networking opportunities for students can provide career advice, suggestions on balancing work and family, and feedback on applications and curriculum vitae.
The Council of Heads of Medical Schools (CHMS) (go to the website at - www.chms.ac.uk) provides several statements on equal opportunities for medical students. One of them, 'Guiding principles for the admission of medical students', download the report here (see reference 26) sets out key criteria that should be used in determining a candidate’s suitability for training as a doctor, as well as the importance of transparency in recruitment in order to comply with equality and diversity legislation.
As discussed above, a BMA cohort study of medical graduates from 1995 - read more here - found that with regard to career choices and aspirations, preferred career options varied somewhat by gender (see reference 21). In addition, by 2005 women from this cohort were also more likely to have left medicine as a career or be undecided about their future career options. The most common reasons given for changing career were hours of work and working conditions. Other key factors for change of career included domestic circumstances, career progression and promotional prospects.