Chapter 75: Women's Leadership in the Development of Medicine

Reshma Jagsi

Women's leadership in the development of medicine The American medical profession is exclusive and powerful and historically has played a unique role in our society. Physicians wield enormous direct influence over the well-being of the patients for whom they care as well as on the direction of medical research and resources that influence the public health more generally. Moreover, they are members of a group that has long enjoyed a remarkable degree of influence on social and political attitudes and decisions on an even broader scale. Therefore students of gender relations have much to learn from the study of women's participation and leadership within the elite and privileged American medical profession. This chapter begins by briefly reviewing the history by which women joined the medical profession and studies documenting women's continued underrepresentation in senior positions in the field even today. It next turns to discuss the dominant theories regarding the ...

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