The Changing Face of Medicine: Women Doctors and the Evolution of Health Care in America (The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work)
"The number of women entering medical school and residency and practicing medicine in the United States has grown steadily over the past four decades.The Changing Face of Medicineis an exploration of multiple aspects of this change, including societal developments, immigration, economics, and the women's movement. . . . This book will allow educators, administrations, reformers, and representatives of funding sources—as well as future physicians—to understand how American medicine came to be as it is now."—Bonnie J. Dattel, MD,New England Journal of Medicine"In 2009, half of all newly minted physicians will be female; in 1969 that figure was fewer than one in ten. In their detailed, data-driven portrait of the dramatic rise of women in medicine, Ann Boulis and Jerry Jacobs do an excellent job of explaining both the reasons for the trend toward numerical equality among physicians and its key consequences. They argue that women entered medicine primarily because broad barriers were lifted—not, as others have suggested, because women were more willing than men to accept (or contributed to) occupational status decline. In addition, as practicing physicians, women differ little from men in their overall patterns of care, and as future leaders of the profession they are unlikely to exhibit much difference in leadership style."—Forrest Briscoe,Industrial and Labor Relations Review"I have seen firsthand how one mother struggled with the delicate balance between work and family and now, more than three decades later, I can truly appreciate the obstacles she overcame. Today, I wonder if it will be any better for my two daughters. Ann K. Boulis and Jerry A. Jacobs have written a must-read for any woman considering the medical profession! It will also make men sit up and take notice."—Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent, CNN'This well-conceived and soundly organized book makes an important contribution to our understanding of a range of gender aspects of the past, present and future of American medicine. It will be of interest to a wide audience, from social scientists and health policy makers to physicians, medical students, and other health professionals."—Mike Saks, University of Lincoln"InThe Changing Face of Medicine, Ann K. Boulis and Jerry A. Jacobs draw on a compelling mix of hard data and personal anecdote to provide a clear and comprehensive analysis of how women as physicians shape the practice of medicine, and in turn, how the practice of medicine shapes these women."—Katrina S. Firlik, MD, neurosurgeon and author ofAnother Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside"Over the past quarter century medicine has experienced a gender revolution with the number of medical school entrants among young women now nearly equaling that of men. In this impressive and beautifully written book, Ann Boulis and Jerry Jacobs use both quantitative data and rich in-depth interviews to understand the cause of this transformation and to understand how women have changed the way medicine is practiced. As they document the pathways women pursue to become physicians, they challenge the conventional wisdom that gender differences in medicine result from choices of individual women and instead show how gendered institutions channel women's specialty choices and type of practice. The Changing Face of Medicine is a marvelous contribution to gender studies and medical sociology."—Jill Quadagno, author of One Nation, Uninsured: Why the US Has No National Health Insurance."This comprehensive and illuminating report on the current status of women physicians and their impact on American medicine will surprise and educate you. Health care teachers, students, and researchers will want to read this book and mine it for important data on gender and medical care in the United States today."—Judith Lorber, Professor Emerita, Graduate Center and Brooklyn College, CUNY, author ofWomen Physicians: Careers, Status, and PowerandBreaking the Bowls: Degendering and Feminist Change