The riddle that has been stumping this misogynist society for decades

Link to NYT Article

Sexualization of Female Physicians

Google sexy doctor and you'll find images like this:

Well, who would've thought that there would be pictures of blonde, big-breasted and scantily clad "doctors"? The sexualization of female doctors portrayed by the media is detrimental to the amount of respect they are viewed with. It can be seen that the world is viewed through the male eye because of how  sexuality is amped up in many photographs, movies and TV shows featuring female doctors. Male patients and even colleagues gain the impression that female doctors do not hold as much prestige as  the men in their same field which leaves room for sexist remarks and interactions. 

Another shocking discovery when you google "sexy doctor" is this:

Yes, these are in fact "nurse" costumes, not the typical white coated doctor. When the term doctor is used, that implies men whereas when women are pictured in the medical field it is typically as a nurse. The simplicity of word association between "doctor" and "nurse" shows how disrespected women doctors are in the medical field. 

Career or Motherhood?

Link to Article


The above article discusses the social pressure women experience about fulfilling their ultimate womanly duties: having children. 

Ignorance Portrayed Through Media

Link to video discussed

Link to Article Discussed

According to Dennis Prager, the increase in number of women doctors is detrimental to our country because men "get more self worth from their profession therefore they are far more willing to  bust their chops and work more hours than women". This rant is misogynistic and and shows just how much the view of female doctors is misconstrued by society. Because apparently every female doctor has a family and children that she devotes most of her time to which takes away from her work ethic towards her career. The fact that he has the audacity to claim that men put more effort into their careers than women and then says he's "not being sexist, just stating facts" shows how a patriarchal society is harmful to the careers of women. He implies that the duty of women is to raise children and manage a family, which is why they are unable to work a full schedule and thereby taking a position form a man who could devote the appropriate amount of time. The article he is discussing was written by a female anesthesiologist that is points out the hardships of working full time and being a full time mother and that when considering the medical field as a profession realize that you will not be the most involved mother. Prager takes this story and turns it into "evidence" against admitting females into medical school.

Why Care?

It may seem a though there is no such thing as a gender gap in the medical field, cause hey around half of the population attending medical school are female doctors right? Even though that is true, it doesn't mean that women are represented equally with other male doctors. The more you go up in prestige and yearly salary, the less females you see holding these positions in the medical field. In a study done by Dumelow and Griffiths, it was seen that 61% of female doctors believed their medical advancements to be barred by organizational culture. Organizational culture is what makes up the stereotypical gender roles that are "supposed" to be performed as women, such as: having children, getting married, and investing your life into your house hold. Cultural expectations change the priorities for female doctors, and they do so without their consent. The social norm of having children and maintaining a household prevents women from picking time-consuming jobs that will make these engraved notions unavailable to them. It is found that the majority of women pick jobs with flexible hours. Because of the difficulties a woman faces to pursue a career of more intensive training and less flexible schedules, the majority of female doctors cannot obtain the highest salaries present in the medical field. Because of this, we see the pay gap between male and female doctors.

Breaking down societal norms within medicine is the only way for men and women doctors to have an equal playing field when it comes to pay, career advancement, and respect. This blog will be a way to put all myths about the "non-existant" gender gap within the medical field.