Gender, Work and Medicine

Book excerpt: This critical assessment of the division of labour in medicine sets current practice in its historical context. The book demonstrates the centrality of gender divisions both between and within the individual medical and health professions - doctors, nurses, midwives and others. Drawing on accounts from different countries and a wide range of professional groups, the contributors examine the extent to which the division of labour is changing and the effect of such changes on the status of women within the health professions. While the proportion of female doctors is rising, the continued constraints on women attaining full equality are explored.