How the Rise of Women Physicians Impacts your Healthcare Organization

Abstract

In 2017, for the first time in American history, more women than men were enrolled in the first year of medical school. In 2019, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), women made up the majority of med students.1 On the horizon: a medical profession in which women outnumber men. This very significant gender shift requires some major changes in policies, attitudes and procedures—because women in medicine today face daunting challenges and disadvantages, ranging from compensation to treatment by colleagues to family-centered issues and beyond. Addressing their well-being and satisfaction with the profession will be one of the most important responsibilities of healthcare leadership in the years ahead. What Medical Women Want One of the most important responses to the AAMC’s 2019 findings about med school enrollment was a survey made the following year by Medscape, “Women Physicians 2020: The Issues They Care About.”2 The researchers discovered that the 3,003 practitioners surveyed were most concerned about: