Endangered: “‘We’re a dying breed,’ says Dr. Ian Young, a 39-year-old family physician in Barrie, Ont.
Young is among a minority of young men choosing to go into family practice, where women already make up half of doctors and will soon dramatically outnumber men. Two-thirds of residents in family medicine are female, according to the 2007 Canadian Medical Education Statistics.”
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- Females are being blamed for the physician shortage
- Primary care shortage and physician recruiters
- Average salary of a solo primary care physician
- Primary care: "Second class citizens"
- Primary care is dying, may already be dead
- Even physician assistants are dissing primary care
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How much of this is due to the double-career standard? A quick survey of my married student and resident friends revealed an standard phenomenon: male doctors tended to marry teachers and other low-paid, fuzzy careers. Female doctors tended to marry finance guys, lawyers, and doctors. Don’t believe me? Check out the New York Times or Washington Post wedding announcements.
Thus the female doctor has more freedom from financial constraints in choosing what type of medicine to practice. Her marriage brought net financial gain.
The male doctor tends to go for the pretty face and dinner on the table at five, so he has no choice but to specialize.
Note I have no opinion as to which pairing works better. Divorce rates only show that doctor-doctor is the least happy. But I think it explains why more women are willing to choose a lower-paid specialty: they anticipate marrying someone who can provide at least the same amount of income.
“We’re a dying breed…”
More likely, we are a breed that is being slaughtered like the Buffalo of the 1870’s. DrRich explains at
http://covertrationingblog.com/wonkonian-rationing/how-to-invest-in-the-new-medicare-audits
how does a female doctor marry a doctor, but a male doctor not?
If their both doctors, both male and female would be marrying doctors.
Wouldn’t they?
The hole in the math had more to do with only counting the one-half of a pair I knew…and the guys I know are much less likely to have married a doctor. Which is anecdotal and therefore statistically unsound.
Disqualifying doctor-doctor from the field and going strictly by the wedding pages, I’d still say that female doctors seem more likely to choose someone with a high-powered career than the reverse.
Thus, less pressure.
I’m sure family issues also play a role in women choosing primary care, but that’s a topic that always ends in blood.
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