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Jul-Sep2004-12(3)
BOOK REVIEW
Women and
medicine
Anant Bhan
Eliza Lo Chin (ed).This side of doctoring: reflections from women in medicine.New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2002. $ 29.99, pp 394.
This book is an anthology of stories, poems, essays
and quotations interwoven like a quilt to capture the essence of being 'a woman
and a doctor' in America. It tries to reflect the sentiments of more than 140
contributors, who besides being women doctors are also daughters, wives,
mothers, teachers, students and community leaders-each role demanding a fair
degree of skill and expertise.
Medical literature and stories about doctors have
remained predominantly male-centric. Written sensitively and from the heart,
there are a variety of contributions in this book that reflect the trials,
tribulations, delight and distress that women physicians in America faced and
continue to face.
Eliza Lo Chin (the editor) begins with a historical
perspective on how women who have been caregivers and healers for a long time
began their formal foray into medical institutions in the nineteenth century, in
the face of hostility, rejection and societal disapproval. She charts the
progress to today, when more and more women are entering the realms of
medicine-a recent American Medical Association (AMA) report states that for the
first time women applicants (50.8%) outnumbered men in applying to US medical
schools in the 2003-2004 academic year, signifying a milestone.
Eliza strikes a cautious note though, when she
highlights a recent study among female physicians, which quotes a surprising 31%
respondents as saying they might not choose the same career path again.
Predictors influencing this decision included high work stress, history of
harassment, increased family responsibilities and lack of job autonomy. In
today's rapidly changing world, this book attempts to portray how women balance
a tiring and demanding profession with the pressures of family
life.
In the section on early pioneers, letters, writings
and memoirs have been dug up to sketch an understanding of how the first women
doctors were trained and practised their graduation from 'chivalry and off
Colour jokes to acceptance and respect'. The lack of facilities for women
doctors on duty in hospitals and they being forced to use the nurses' rooms by
male superiors was one of the many impediments on a daily basis.
In the section on Formative Years, the allure and
challenges of the medical education system are discussed. This section 'Life in
the Trenches' deals with the period of internship and residency with 36-hour
duties and how many contributors juggled additional responsibilities of a fresh
marriage, motherhood or both. 'Doctoring' highlights the varied hues of a
doctor-patient relationship while 'Mothering and Doctoring' deals with the pain
and guilt which many women physicians feel when they cannot devote adequate time
to their young children, tired and flustered with work pressures as they are.
This leads to often 'Making Choices', where some physicians describe lost
opportunities and painful personal decisions such as not having children, to
devote themselves to their profession.
'Barriers' presents the hurdles that women have to
face, when they try to enter the traditional male specialties such as
orthopaedic surgery. Challenges of being in administrative positions-the 'Boys
Clubs', and of being from racial and ethnic minorities for women are portrayed.
Sexual harassment and the issues of freedom of sexual orientation are laid
threadbare through sharing of vignettes from their lives.
The next two chapters deal with how relationships
are influenced by the 'doctor' role of these women and how they have to maintain
a balance in many situations. In the last couple of chapters families share
their views on how they look up to these women and reflections by contributors
about their medical careers.
Overall, this experiential sharing is honest and
direct, revealing the various facets of the personalities and lives of these
extraordinary medical professionals. It would be worthwhile if a similar
exercise was attempted in India to portray the lives of women in medicine; the
addition of a historical perspective would help in the understanding.
ANANT BHAN,Flat No.
405, Building No. A-11, Planet Millennium, Aundh Camp, Pune 411027, India.
e-mail:drbhan@sify.com