Sex and Medicine
Gender, Power and Authority in the Medical Profession

This insightful 1998 book uses the experiences of women doctors to explore whether they make a difference.

Rosemary Pringle (Author)

9780521578127, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 June 1998

252 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.38 kg

'… important and valuable contribution to our understanding of the ways in which a gendered health care division of labour has developed.' Medical History

Professional medicine has often been seen as a field that discriminates against women as doctors and patients. Yet women are entering medicine in increasing numbers. This 1998 book explores the position of women in the medical profession in Australia and the UK, asking the key question 'Do women doctors make a difference?' Based on an extensive survey of general practitioners and specialists, the book evokes the culture of contemporary medicine by describing the experiences of doctors themselves, often in their own words. Pringle employs a distinctive theoretical approach, but writes accessibly and with insight about a profession that is slowly being transformed. She notes the success of women in entering medicine and describes the ways in which they have challenged medical authority and practice. This is an original and important work that contains new visions for medical practice.

1. Introduction
2. Women take the field
3. The power of gynaecology
4. As a fish out of water: women in surgery
5. Inside medicine: the physician specialties
6. The unconscious of medicine: anaesthesia and psychiatry
7. The subalterns of general practice
8. Nursing a grievance: doctor-nurse relations
9. Doctors and the women's health movement
10. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Biography: historical, political & military [BGH]