Obstetrics and gynecology finally are becoming a popular field for female physicians–a long overdue result of the passage in 1972 of Title IX of the U.S. Civil Rights Act, which opened up educational opportunities for women.
— Last year, 69 percent of female American medical school graduates chose obstetrics and gynecology as their first choice of a specialty, says the American Medical Association.
— In 1986, for the first time a majority, 51 percent, of first-year residents in obstetrics and gynecology were female.
— The AMA predicts that obstetrics and gynecology may become a female-dominated branch of medicine by 2020.
A recent issue of Working Mother magazine, commenting on the switch in sexes in the baby business, gives more insight into why female physicians are opting for obstetrics. It notes that ”part of the reason women are taking over the field may be that general (read: male) interest in this specialty has declined in recent years because of high malpractice insurance.
”But the change may also mean a new trend toward women caring for women.”
It`s no coincidence that more and more women want to become obstetricians at the same time women are seeking less autocratic medical treatment and women`s health centers, staffed by and for women, are on the increase.
”There`s a widescale demand for female obstetricians because they are perceived as being more sensitive and to take more time talking to patients,” said Dr. Linda Hughey Holt, 36, an obstetrician and gynecologist with the Northcare Medical Group in Evanston and instructor at Northwestern University Medical School.
”There is some truth to that and many exceptions. I hope we soon get to a point where gender won`t matter as long as the doctor is caring and concerned.”
Dr. Holt, a 1977 graduate of the University of Chicago Medical School, was in Yale University`s first coeducational freshman class. At Yale, she decided to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology to ”save the world from male chauvinist doctors.”
In college, Dr. Holt said, she ”encountered insensitive male doctors and so did many of my friends. I believed that women going into the field of obstetrics/gynecology could change it.
”And it is changing: It`s becoming more humanistic and more sensitive to the needs of women as individuals.”
She was accepted into medical school but ran into some discouragement.
”Some instructors felt that (obstetrics and gynecology) was physically too demanding for women, but I personally think we often have more endurance than men,” Dr. Holt said. ”One instructor told me women don`t have enough strength to pull on forceps.”
Undeterred, she continued in her specialty. In 1979, during her residency, she married John A. Holt, a researcher in ovarian cancer and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Chicago. They have two children, 2 and 4.
”Obstetrics is a fun, exciting field,” she said. ”There`s just nothing more exciting in life than being a part of babies being born. It`s particularly enjoyable for women. Historically, women have been the birthers
(midwives). On a very deep-down emotional level, it`s very fulfilling.”
On the downside, she said, ”I feel sorry for those women in residency. Most women have a much more balanced attitude toward life than their male counterparts. They want to have family time, personal time and not to be so exhausted they lose their emotional sensitivity.”
The physical demands of the training period, Dr. Holt said, ”leave women virtually no time for personal pursuits.” Another problem: paying off the enormous debt of medical school. Dr. Holt owed $25,000 when she graduated; she paid it off in eight years.
”As a result, many women are going into salaried positions, which is exactly what I did,” said Dr. Holt, who works for a highly respected health maintenance organization. ”Salaried jobs and group practice are important for women,” but, ”in the beginning, it could slow your progress.”
Holt is coauthor with Melva Weber of ”The American Medical Association Guide to Womencare,” published by Random House in 1982; and the current
”Midlife Health: Every Woman`s Guide to Feeling Really Good,” written with Ada P. Kahn.
She found time to write books the same way she found time to have babies. ”I just did it,” she said.
Dr. Holt, who has a female obstetrician, said she was ”shocked, having a baby, at how much it hurt.”
As a result, ”instead of treating female complaints as pyschosomatic, I take them at face value and believe them. Women want to be treated as rational, adult human beings, not as neurotic, hysterical patients.”
