Medical School Stories (Fugh-Berman)
How did the author depict the experiences of male and female medical students in medical school?
(How) are some of Fugh-patterns Berman’s comparable (or not) to those observed by Sadker and Sadker in their study of elementary school children?
Overview
It’s finally time to retire the outdated stereotype of male physicians and female nurses. According to new data released this week by the Association of American Medical Colleges, female students outnumber male students in this year’s entering class at US medical schools for the first time in history—and enrollment trends overall indicate that women may soon outnumber men in the medical field.
According to the data, female matriculants (or enrollees) made up 50.7% of the 21,338 students starting medical school this year. Female matriculants climbed by 3.2% this year, while male matriculants decreased by 0.3%; nonetheless, the former group has grown by 4% since 2015, while the latter has decreased by 6.7%.
Those year-over-year figures are substantial, signaling that this is not a one-time occurrence and that the pattern is likely to persist in the near future. So, what’s causing the shift?
“This year’s matriculating class illustrates that medicine is becoming a more appealing vocation for women, and that medical schools are establishing an inclusive atmosphere,” said Darrell Kirch, president and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges, in a news statement.
Medical schools’ initiatives to increase diversity might be an influence. The rise in female medical school applicants might also be attributed to a larger educational push, at both the college degree and kindergarten-through-high school levels, to promote more gender equality in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) sectors.
In the past, these have primarily attracted male students due to cultural stereotypes, a predominance of male teachers and role models, and, potentially, the nature of the subjects themselves, as well as whether men and women have different cognitive aptitudes, a question that is still being debated.
