Women in medicine

Historically and presently, in many parts of the world, women's participation in the profession of medicine (as physicians or surgeons for instance) has been significantly restricted. However, women's informal practice of medicine in roles such as caregivers or as allied health professionals has been widespread. Most countries of the world now provide women with equal access to medical education. However, not all countries ensure equal employment opportunities, and gender equality has yet to be achieved within medical specialties and around the world.

In 1540, Henry VIII of England granted the charter for the Company of Barber Surgeons Company of Barber-Surgeons; while this led to the specialization of healthcare professions (i.e. surgeons and barbers), women were barred from professional practice. Women did, however, continue to practice during this time. They continued to practice without formal training or recognition in England and eventually North America for the next several centuries. Women's participation in the medical professions was generally limited by legal and social practices during the decades while medicine was professionalizing. However, women openly practiced medicine in the allied health fields (nursing, midwifery, etc.), and throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, women made significant gains in access to medical education and medical work through much of the world. These gains were sometimes tempered by setbacks; for instance, Mary Roth Walsh documented a decline in women physicians in the US in the first half of the twentieth century, such that there were fewer women physicians in 1950 than there were in 1900. However, through the latter half of the twentieth century, women had gains generally across the board. In the United States, for instance, women were 9% of total US medical school enrollment in 1969; this had increased to 20% in 1976. By 1985, women constituted 16% of practicing US physicians.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century in industrialized nations, women have made significant gains, but have yet to achieve parity throughout the medical profession. Women have achieved parity in medical school in some industrialized countries, since 2003 forming the majority of the United States medical student body. In 2007-2008, women accounted for 49% of medical school applicants and 48.3% of those accepted. According to the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) 48.3% (16,838) of medical degrees awarded in the US in 2009-10 were earned by women, an increase from 26.8% in 1982-3.

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