Conference turris::womannotes-v1

    I don't have any factual statistics, but when I was in college (lets
    say 6-8 years ago ;^), I noticed that the pre-med population seemed
    to have more women than men.  There was, however, a higher percentage
    of men in the pre-med program than in the more general biology
    department (in which the number of women clearly outnumbered the
    men).
    
    What I'd find interesting is what the M/F ratio is with respect
    to those that actually were accepted AND went to Med school.

       Are you looking for statistics only in the US, or throughout the
       world?  I suspect that you'd find a much higher percentage of
       women MDs, for example, in the Soviet Union and the eastern bloc
       countries. 
       
       --Mr Topaz 

    Either, but I suppose I should request that the statistics be explained
    (what country and year do they refer to, where are they from, etc.)
    
    liz

       re .1: there is often a discrepancy between student ratios and
       the ratios for those practicing in a given field. I am reminded
       of the figures from when I was a student (late 60s) for
       astronomy: at that time 95% of the students in US Universities
       majoring in astronomy where female, whereas 98% of the practicing
       professional astronomers were male!

       Without wishing to sound sexist is it possible that there is a
       factor at work that tends to discourage women more so than men
       from taking up a career in their university specialty? 

       /. Ian .\

    re: .0
    
         Here is the ratio of Male to Female physicians as defined by
    the Bureau of the Census.

                               average    
                 number    weekly earnings
                -------    ---------------
    Males       158,000         $656
    Female       51,000         $507
    
    Percent Female workers  24.4%
    Salary Ratio F/M  77.3%
    
        These statistics are for the year 1985 and were from an article
    in "Monthly Labor Review" Sept 1986, called "Weekly earnings in
    1985: A look at more than 200 occupations". They are for the United
    States.
    
    ASP

  I've read that women make up 75% of the medical doctors in the Soviet
  Union.  However, the same article said that this did not necessarily
  mean that the Soviets regarded women more highly.  Rather it means
  that they hold doctors in relatively low esteem, compared with the
  great respect most Americans show for doctors..

  JP

A few points about the last several notes:

    Remember that  in  a rapidly changing society, the ratio of men to
    women  in  a profession is strongly influenced by who was admitted
    to  med school 30 years ago. Since the number of women starting to
    practice  medicine has been increasing sharply, the average age of
    women  doctors  is  less than the average age of men doctors. This
    fact  and  the  distribution of specialties account for a lot (but
    probably not all) of the the salary differences.

    The U.S.  seems  to  have  more respect for doctors than any other
    place.  In  Australia the standard medical degree is a bachelor of
    medicine, reserving Doctor for Ph.D.s.

--David

    re: .5
    
         I have a different set of figures that the ones I posted in
    my previous note.  These are from the 1987 World Almanac and are
    dramatically different that my previous numbers.  The source of
    this information is the AMA Dec 31, 1983.  It also provides a
    breakdown by age as well.
    
         The top line is the number of male physiscians in the group,
    The bottom is the number of female physiscians and the bottom is
    the percentage of women in each group.
    
     Total        < 35       35-44       45-54       55-64        > 65
    -------     -------     -------     -------     -------     -------
    449,958     108,246     120,148      86,500      69,009      66,055
     69,588      30,328      20,007       8,284       5,684       5,285
    
     13.39%      21.89%      14.27%       8.74%       7.61%       7.41%
    
    ASP