Navigating the Historical and Present Challenges of Women in Medicine

Women have played pivotal roles in medicine, however there are many obstacles they face. From battling society's judgment to overcoming biases, the challenges women encounter in medicine are entrenched and different. After all, medicine has historically always been a male-dominated field. Let’s dive into the historical and current challenges women face in healthcare.

Historical Challenges

1. Barriers on education

           Women have faced many barriers in education. Since medicine has been a male dominated field, there were little to no spaces in medical schools for women. If a woman was even accepted to the school, there would be prejudices and misconceptions of them. Take Elizabeth Blackwell as an example. She was accepted into medicine school after 150 men thought her application was a joke. But, she evolved to help women get more opportunities in healthcare.

1. Little to no recognition of Women

Women in medicine have little to no recognition. Even if a woman made a large impact in the medicine field, it was largely attributed to male colleagues.

1. Discrimination

If a woman were to be accepted into a job relating to medicine, the job would have unequal pay. Also, women would likely not be able to apply for large roles.

Current Challenges

1. Lack of representation in Medicine subjects

A current challenge for many women is lack of representation in a certain field of medicine. These fields include surgery and cardiology. These fields tend to be male dominated as well.

1. Biases and Disparities

Although we are in a generation where all are equal, there are disparities like lower pay than males and lower opportunities for large roles. Although medicine has highly evolved in terms of accessibility, even older problems like little to no recognition in healthcare jobs still exist in the industry still.

1. Work-Life Balance

It’s hard for women to balance their careers with work, especially in medicine or healthcare. It can be challenging for women because of the long hours and irregular schedules often required in healthcare professions.

Women have worked very hard to battle hardships, discrimination, and biases in healthcare with perseverance since the 1800s. Although medicine has greatly evolved over the decades, there is still room for improvement to achieve gender equality in healthcare. Acknowledging these historical and present biases can help us work together to create a future where women can be valued, respected, and appreciated.