Being a Mother and Physician: What You Need To Know

Source: www.hghtherapy.com

Women who immerse themselves in the medical profession often plan on having a family in addition to a career as a physician. While many women have navigated and balanced these two full time “professions” before, childbearing and a career as a physician often don’t compliment each other as women are put at a disadvantage both in their familial and professional life when they choose to raise a family. The National Women’s Health Network explains how motherhood can often be a disadvantage to female physicians in “Balancing it All: Women and Medicine”.

There is not good time to have a child as a physician: From medical school to residency to becoming a attending physician, physician’s schedules are jam packed with a scarcity of time off. In medical school, students generally are not allotted big breaks. First year students are often granted their summer off after their first year of training, however the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year of medical school are filled with exams and residency interviews. Having a baby at any of these times would increase a student’s risk of dropping out. Directly after medical school, students go directly to being residents for 3-7 years. According to the American Medical Women’s Association, half all women physicians who get pregnant have their first child within these years of residency. However, many residency programs have a lack of maternity leave policies and mothers are often harassed by their peers and superiors for needing time off or for needing others to cover their shifts.

Female Physicians Face Harassment For Choosing to Become Mothers: According to The National Women’s Health Network, women often need their shifts covered by fellow physicians, and this causes resentment among peers. Women who have become mothers not only face backlash from their peers, but their superiors as well. Attending physicians are predominantly male, who are less likely to emphasize. Furthermore, women who have children during their residencies are less likely to be considered for coveted positions like Chief Resident. Mothers in the medical profession are put at a disadvantage in regards to their colleagues attitudes about them, thus they are given less opportunities.

Future Research: Why women dont participate in academic medicine as much as men? Do women have a hard time participating in certain specialities?