A comparison of the professional values and career orientations of male and female medical students: Some unintended consequences of U.S. public policy

During the 1970s, partly as a response to U.S. public policy which promoted the objective of equal opportunity for women, there was a dramatic increase in the proportion of women entering careers in medicine. Some observers have expressed the expectation that these women physicians will promote progressive changes in health care and that they will be more likely to emphasize “humanistic” aspects of treating patients. This paper presents data from a national survey of U.S. medical students which provides a comparison of several relevant characteristics of these male and female students. There are several important areas where significant differences are apparent. Women students are more likely to place greater importance on the desire to help people as a career motivation, for example, and are less likely to express satisfaction with the status quo in American health care. There are also significant male-female differences in career plans with respect to areas such as specialty choice and preference for practice setting. These findings are used to consider the question of the probable impact of increased numbers of women physicians on the future of American health care. Projections for the future are made more difficult because of important changes within the medical profession and in the context of health care organization, but it is clear that women physicians do represent some potential for progressive change in American medicine.