Female Doctors in Canada

Book excerpt: Female Doctors in Canada is an accessible collection of articles by experienced physicians and researchers exploring how systems, practices, and individuals must change as medicine becomes an increasingly female-dominated profession. As the ratio of practicing physicians shifts from predominately male to predominately female, issues such as work hours, caregiving, and doctor-patient relationships will all be affected. Canada's medical education is based on a system that has always been designed by and for men; this is also true of our healthcare systems, influencing how women practice, what type of medicine they choose to practice, and how they wish to balance their personal lives with their work. With the intent to open a larger conversation, Female Doctors in Canada reconsiders medical education, health systems, and expectations, in light of the changing face of medicine. Highlighting the particular experience of women working in the medical profession, the editors trace the history of female practitioners, while also providing a perspective on the contemporary struggles women face as they navigate a system that was tailored to the male experience, and is yet to be modified.