women in Medical sciences .From data of Calicut Medical college 1991

WOMEN IN MEDICAL SCIENCES


It was only in 1972 that the New york Academyconducted the first ever conference for working women scientists.The second was conducted in 1978 by the association of women in sciences.(AWIS)constituted in 1971.The 1972 conference studied the lives of twelve distinguished women scientists.In a seminar conducted in 1979 ,apart from essays and symposiums ,the presentations of postdoctoral women on their outlook about life were also included.All of the participants were of the view that such discussions and meetings certainly help in assessing the problems faced by working women.
Alice Kemp described Christine,one of the known 16th century feminists as…”at the dawn of the 15th century ,she stood like a Janus ,loking eagerly into the future and the past.she represented the changing era.However their writings showed their affinity towards orthodox .At the same time she could be seen struggling for the solution of innumerable unsolved problems with a free thinking.She is viewed as the personification of changing times.”

We salute the glittering services rendered by the eminent doctors of Salerno medical college in the 11th century and the lady doctors of the ancient Egyptian civilizations.It is generally said that ladies are as good as gents in each and every science. .But is this really true?The Toqavalli published Democracy in America in 1830. Out of the 705 pages ,only 6 pages were earmarked for science.However he was kind enough to spare 8 pages for women.But discussions were mainly on women as wives.A little was discussed about women education.
Till 1960 admission was denied to women inThomas Jefferson hospital.Admission to the Hopkinson medical school was open to women only when a conditional aid worth of five lakhs dollars was offered by Elizabeth Garatt Anderson.Admissions were prohibited to women in 28%of medical schools in 1934.Even in 1944,9%of medical schools were labeled as exclusively for men.There was not even a single lady doctor in any of the hospitals of America .Till 1978 there was only one lady doctor as a professor in the department of medicine inEngland.
In a list published in 1921 consisting of scientists in America,504 were women out of which 50% belonged to biology and medicine.The percentage never remained constant.If it was 11 %in 1960,on elapsing 16 years in 1976 ,23.2% women were still working in biological sciences.Majorityy of them were in biochemistry,biology,genetics,anatomy,molecular biology and immunology.
It is seen that lady doctors preferred paediatrics ,microbiology,preventive and social medicine,gynaecology etc.The statistics about US medical schools revealed that their contribution as academicians were meager.






Table 1.Percentage of men and women as academicians.


Professional /academic post Men % women %
1.Professor. 96 4
2.Associate professor . 91 9

3.Assistant Professor. 84 16
However the semiskilled work force in the medical area was largely contributed by women.If you would construct a pyramid,75% of the base will be occupied by women working under these categories with only 1% at the top positions.It would be interesting to analyse this strange reality.Olison assumes that it could be because women are easily controllable by authority and power.But Brown have the following observations.
1.women work more for lesser pay.
2.Unemployment is severe in women.
3.Generally women lack the following:
.higher education
.freedom from daily routine household work
.respect from political an dcommunity leaders
.socioeconomic reasons limit job opportunities to women
.compared to other areas women are well paid in these services.


From medical students in San Francisco (1976)URSA (urban rural system association)revealed that women are less business oriented.The reasons why boys opted medical education were
.financial security
.comfortable life
.dignity of service.
Whereas women were interested mainly in
.dignity of the profession.
.freedom
.the adventurous inspirations to serve.
The following figures are based on a survey conducted by a group of our students in 1987(see table 2).









Table 2.motivational factors in medical students survey 1987 (calicut medical college)
Motivation
Male %
Female %
Keenness to serve
Financial security
Dignity of profession.
As ameans to live
Real interest
Accidental
Items I,2 &3 above
For freedom
Affinity for research
For a better prospect of marriage
Reason unknown
No response
16.48
6.9
13.03
6.51
10.73
3.45
15.71
0.38
0.75

0.38
8.43
17.25
19.02
0.54
3.8
6.52
22.28
1.09
2.72
0.54
0.0

0.54
4.35
38.59

There is 0% women interested in research and only 0.75 % men are interested in research.No wonder our contributions to the field is meager.It reflects the status of the present world of science of medicine.

Peter Principle.
The abilities of men are recognized quickly.Once recognized ,the effort and enthusiasm to develop oneself gets retarded.This is called Peter principle.Even if women put maximum effort to come at par with men ,it is seen that they get the deserving recognition much later.This could be a blessing in disguise as women are not coming under this peter principle.This will make them more creative and hard working .It is because of this only that man needs the service of his wife at home and a secretory at his office .
In order to achieve the same level in terms of position ,woman has to work twice as hard as that of man.It was understood through a study conducted in western countries that women who reaches the higher echelon will have intelligence ,hard working nature ,curiosity for many things and ability to analyse meticulously compared to men because she has to struggle and overcome the society in order to come upto that level.
Even then as rightly pointed out by Olsen,women are more envious ,intolerant and shows a negative approach to other women in high positions.Women may tolerate another man who supercedes her.However she will never allow another woman to supercede her.If anyone has to achieve something ,then he/she shall get enough opportunities for development as well as for sharing knowledge.As rightly pointed out by Olison,women occupying the higher slots ,on recognition of leadership quality in others ,instead of extending their possible help,try to put as much hindrance as possible.According to him,women should be able to understand the potential of their women colleagues and work together.Socialisation of women should really come from women rather than from men.

Rosaline Yalow ,one of the Nobel laureates reminds us that for each and every achievement ,there could be setbacks.In order to make discoveries ,women have to make very hard mental exercises for hours resulting in loneliness during that period ,which is inevitable.As she climbs the steps she will have to stay a little detached from the society.The reason is obvious.Neither time nor energy will be available with her for gossiping etc.Selfconfidence ,courage and hard work guarantee success to anybody.

IN KERALA.
1.Admissions are not banned for women in any of our medical colleges.
2.Pay and perks are at par with that of men.
3.In case of promotion woman is not considered a s backward.
4.Ladies in large numbers are graduated from our colleges .It was feared that their number will come down consequent to introduction of the entrance examination.But it has been proved that the assumption was wrong.See the data and graph of calicut medical college admissions (table 3)

Table 3 statistics of medical students-calicut medical college.


Sl.no:
Year
1957-90
No of admissions
Male
Female
Male %
Female %
1.
2.
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33

57-58
58-59
59-60
60-61
61-62
62-63
63-64
64-65
65-66
66-67
67-68
68-69
69-70
70-71
71-72
72-73
73-74
74-75
75-76
76-77
77-78
78-79
79-80
80-81
81-82
82-83
83-84
84-85
85-86
86-87
87-88
89-90
90-91
51
76
104
155
150
149
176
177
192
180
83
176
181
197
185
181
184
188
189
182
189
206
202
201
201
205
201
206
202
223
200
201
187
36
50
82
121
118
117
134
129
144
136
142
126
116
126
128
113
124
114
120
114
112
122
119
104
125
141
143
148
110
146
226
115
122
15
26
22
34
32
32
42
48
48
44
41
50
65
71
57
68
60
74
69
68
77
84
83
97
76
64
58
58
92
77
74
86
65
70.6
65.8
78.9
78.1
78.7
78.5
76.2
72.9
75.0
75.6
77.6
71.6
64.1
64.0
69.2
62.4
67.4
60.7
63.5
62.7
59.3
59.2
58.9
51.7
62.2
68.8
71.1
71.9
56.5
65.5
63.0
57.3
65.3
29.4
34.2
21.1
21.9
21.3
21.5
23.8
27.1
25.0
24.4
22.4
28.4
35.9
36.0
30.8
37.6
32.6
39.3
36.5
37.3
40.7
40.8
41.1
48.3
37.8
31.2
28.9
28.1
43.5
34.5
37.0
42.7
34.7

5.We had women as principals and professors coming mainly from nonclinical sides.In surgery and medicine the number of women are scarce.
6.The men and women in biological sciences and medicine are many but the substantial contributions to their respective fields of activity are less.
7.Legally and constitutionally speaking the women are given equal rights .And in that sense the womwnmen scientists are not suffering class.We had distinguished ladies as Director of medical education.All of them from nonclinical side(A decade after this paper Dr Meenu Hariharan became DME so that at least one from the clinical side has come to the highest academic and administrative position)
In other areas of science also women participation is comparatively less with respect to the population rates.The reasons are worth investigating .It could be because of “filters of society “ as pointed out by Earnst ,or the “fights at different levels “suggested by Easthler.
Some argue that the condition of women in vedic period was pathetic.They say that women like Maithreyi,Gargi or Ubhayabharathy were individual exceptions.I have a very simple answer to them.Even today,the number of such women could be counted on the fingers.But if one could manage to reach the top of the pyramid after passing through various filters ,it means that she can be considered as one among the many trying to get to that position.There may be a big que of women having as much quest for knowledge as her.Whenever we remember a Maithreyi ,a Gargi or Christine ,we have to remember unknown thousands of subaltern identities behind them.
Why is that we didn’t have a Nity Steevens or a Sabin among us?Why is that we are not able to acquire a historical personality which could be remembered after our retirement from service or even after retiring from this world itself?
I presume that the answer to this is evident from the survey results given among the students in 1987.
Certainly the road available to women scientists is not covered with roses.But they are being laid on the way ,she has already traverse.!

TABLE 4 Preclinical departments

subject
Academic post
Male %
Female %
Nonacademic
(lecturer)
Male%
Female%
Anatomy
Biochemistry
Physiology
Microbiology
Pathology
Pharmacology
Forensic medicine
Community medicine
5
5
3
5
8
4
4

7
100
80
100
80
87.5
75
25

28.56
0
20
0
20
12.5
25
75

71.44
8
3
7
2
3
7
6

2
50
66.7
57.12
50
35.3
42.84
16.6

50
50
33.3
42.88
50
66.7
57.16
83.4

50


Table 5.Clinical department

subject
Academic post
Male% female %
Nonacademic
Male % female %
Medicine
Skin &VD
Other specialities
Paediatrics
Ophthalmology
Surgery
(includes specialities)
anaesthesia
pediatric surgery
physical medicine
gynaecology/obstretics
94.2 5.8
42.84 57.16
100 0
50 50
75 25
100 o

50 50
100 0
100 0
28.58 71.42
100 0
50 50
100 0
40 60
40 60
100 0

70 30
100 0
100 0
9.09 90.91



References:
1.Annals of the New york academy of sciences.Volume 323.1979.
2.women in healthcare.Navarro.v.New England journal of medicine .Vol.292,1975,pp.398-402.
3.Productivity of women physicians.Heins.M.S.Smock,J.Jacobs,M.Stein.Journal of American medical association.Vol .236,1976,pp.1961-1964.
4.Oleson .V.1977.Reconceptualising leadership-lower status women and the exercise of power in health care settings.In proceedings of the conference on women’s leadership and authority in the health profession.pp.43-53,dept of health,education,and welfare.Washington.DC.
5.survey –87 report.conducted by a group of medical students in calicut medical college .
6.calicut medical college calendar.1989.