Female doctors: the better half of medicine
It was not so long ago that doctors liked to talk about white demigods. And they still exist today: chief physicians who govern their clinics like princes in the feudal period and also earn accordingly.
But now the medical profession seems to have a new problem: the feminization of medicine! While it took centuries before the patriarchal structures in health care could be scratched a bit, this trend has already been the subject of numerous specialist conferences: The proportion of women among the medical profession is rising. 63 percent are among new students, 56 percent among newly registered doctors.
How well! Could you think. At last, women dare to work in a profession that shows off their skills and earns them safe jobs, career opportunities and good pay. In addition, according to various studies, women are sometimes the better physicians anyway: because they listen to their patients and speak with them.
But as soon as women are a bit on the road to success, that will make you magical again. "Women want to help and work psychosocially - even if they do not earn so much", as justified, according to TIME online, the President of the German Medical Association Astrid Bühren, why the female share of the medical profession is growing. "This has something to do with their helper syndrome, they rather rely on the meaningfulness of their profession," says Cordelia Andresen, the director of the Medical Association of Schleswig-Holstein in a North German newspaper (headline: "women make it cheaper").
And the Swiss World Week cited the pediatrician Barbara Buddeberg-Fischer with the words: "I advocate a healthy mix, among other things also in the interest of patients who should have the choice between doctor and doctor." The consequence of the feminization of medicine, according to Weltwoche: "even worse wages, less research, shortage of staff, a downward spiral."
Like right now? As soon as women become doctors, is it with the glamor and glamor of this job? No sailing yachts anymore, no waving white coats, no depreciation items in the Canaries? Instead Helper syndrome, self-exploitation and decline of medical research?
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde author Irene Stratenwerth
It is unfortunately true: Female doctors earn on average 500 Euro less than equally well-qualified male colleagues after five years of professional experience. Thirty-five percent of medical women never achieve a specialist degree - the men are only 15. And on the way to the executive level, women "somehow" fall by the wayside: only every tenth chief medical officer position is filled with a woman.
Why is that? "Women tend to hold back and practice modesty," criticized Marianne Schrader, professor emeritus of Lübeck's Uniklink. So are we responsible again? After all, experts and officials agree on how the Improve career opportunities of women in medicine could: with family-friendly working hours and childcare offers that are compatible with everyday hospital life. Meanwhile, it is clear that all this will be necessary: because in the next few years for Germany a dramatic shortage of doctors is predicted.
But this is our chance for progress. Because Only when more women in medical practice and research are not only active, but also able to exert influence, will female health issues finally receive the attention they deserve.
