I used to think I preferred female doctors to men when I was in my 20’s because I thought they would be better listeners (very sexist of me really) but, like any profession, some doctors are good listeners and some are not - male or female I think medical school having a 1:1 ratio is a good thing because it actually reflects the population - wouldn’t it be great if all professions had this “problem”? I think it’s backwards to still think that since we need time off for pre-natal care, maternity leave, nursing, and daycare schedules that somehow the profession isn’t worthy of us - in the end, I believe it all evens out - how many men do we all know that take time out of the workday for golfing and/or also leave early to coach their kids’ teams - these are things I have yet to make time for in my career (and I was an athlete through college and I used to be a decent golfer) because I did take 3 months maternity leave when I had my 3rd baby in 2004, and I did nurse him when my husband brought him to my office twice a day when he took his maternity leave after mine (get with it, our husbands are far more engaged with family life than previous generations - he now works only part-time) it’s amazing that this conversation still needs to exist but alas, I guess it still does - onward through the fog but try to keep up with my contrails…

There are a few things here that we should pull out from under the rug. First, if there is no reproduction, there will be no one to become doctors one day, or pay the Social Security benefits of the retired doctors. A reproducing doctor is contributing twice to her society, and each contribution is worthy. Second, there are definite seasons to a woman’s life. Her children won’t always be nursing or in diapers. I have found that women get a real second wind when the physical rigors of early childhood begin to pass—right around the same time that the men are burning out. Some complementarity of life cycles does exist, and society benefits from that, as well. And finally, Joan C. Williams would have us ask how on earth we constructed the “ideal worker/doctor” as someone with a completely unbalanced life that precludes appropriate attention to reproduction and caretaking.

Anne, when you say, “it’s amazing that this conversation still needs to exist but alas, I guess it still does”, you’re right. However, the conversation needs to continue not just because of men, but because of women, as well. On the original BusinessWeek article, one commentator, a self-identified child-free woman, expressed a great deal of antagonism towards working mothers, and the idea of “special hours” they require. She points out that having children is a “choice,” (and thank goodness having children IS a “choice”) and if one has made that choice, one should either get out of the workforce, or find childcare that allows you to “put in the hours your fulltime job demands.” Not sure if she was against flex-time, or just the idea that mothers (and frankly, fathers) of children often need to leave the office by 6pm or so to pick up their children from daycare, or take days off to care for sick children, participate in school events, and so on. Either way, I think her remarks are telling about how society — or at least corporate society — views working parents. (And those views are not unique to her; I have found materials on HR sites which suggest family-friendly policies amount to discrimination against childlesss workers, and should be reconsidered). When media commentators find themselves appalled at the report that female Ivy League students are planning on taking time off from their careers to care for their young families, they don’t seem to be able to muster any outrage that the US is the only developed country without a real “working parent” policies — extended parental leave for new parents (six weeks of leave doesn’t cut it), childcare, or other policies. Nor do they consider that late 20th century feminism came to dwell exclusively on “getting ahead” in what was (and is) still a male-defined paradigm, instead of working to change the paradigm to make it possible people of both genders of all parental situations, and of any economic situation to engage in both fruitful careers and fulfilling “home” life. The BusinessWeek article, in particualr, calls out the fact that female doctors, on average, spend more time wth individual patients, and thus see fewer patients per day, thus lowering their economic worth to a practice. Where’s the outrage that the presumption is that doctors should be churning patients in order to maximize the profits, rather than providing the best care? How much of the shortage in the “care” specialities — pediatrics, geriatrics and general family practice — is because male residents opt for more higher-paying (and, perhaps, less needed) specialities like cosmetic surgery and cosmetic dermatology? (And frankly, we need to ask ourselves who is creating the demand for those specialities, and then think about the answer when we can’t get an appointment with a general care physician….) One last point this article overlooks — the growth in the nurse-practioner area, which is largely dominated by women, and is again a “care” related speciality within the overall medical profession. While some might ask why women are relegated (through choice or external pressure) to the lower-paying “care” specialities, perhaps the question should be: why does our society put “care-taking” on the bottom rung?

The bottom line is, the energy is changing and it is showing up in every area of this country and the world at large. It is time for the old energy (male/sun) to wake up and realize that the new energy (female/earth) is greatly needed. The new energy is not a threat to the old energy it is bringing the world into balance. The old energy has dominated for over 5000 years. It is now time for the new energy to take it’s rightful place next to/equal the old energy. Many who are strongly intrenched in the old energy will feel that they are being taken advantage of or will feel threatened by the new energy. This is a normal response many of us do not welcome change, however that rarely prevents it from happening. Having more female Doctors in the work place is just a physical sign that the energy is changing and that their is always resistance to change! I invite every human being to embrace the change, things are only going to get better! Look around you what do we really have to lose as opposed to what we ALL will have to gain?! CONNECTION TO OURSELVES