Jessie
Remember the term 「uncle doctor」? Our parents taught us to say 「thank
you」 after uncle doctor had examined us, and he would give us candies in
reward for our good behavior. However, children of this generation and
the next should familiarize themselves with the term 「auntie doctor」 if
they want to get the candies they want. This may surprise you, but
almost 10% of the doctors are female and the number is growing every
year.
Women were not allowed to have any education in the old Chinese
society. Their primary work of life was to serve men; first their
fathers, then their husbands, finally their sons and grandsons.
Although the situation has changed gradually, women today still hold
lower positions in the workplace. Maybe it』s because deep inside people
still don』t believe in women』s abilities, or it』s simply because the men
holding power are afraid to face the fact that some women could be
better than they are. For whatever reason, the percentage of women in
managerial positions never exceeded 5%, not to mention in the specialist
population of doctors.
Still, the world is indeed changing. The population of women doctors is
rising at an enormous speed. According to Doctor Song-Nan Chow (周松男),
an authority at NTU Hospital, 「people no longer believe that women are
worthless attachments of men; they think women are more sensitive and
patient and that』s exactly what most people look for in a good
doctor.」 Most male doctors are beginning to feel threatened by this
situation, especially those in the gynecology/obstetrics department.
The chairmen of NTU Hospital』s gynecology/obstetrics department Bor-Chiang
Sheu (許博欽)
commented, 「Most patients appoint female doctors in our felid; that is
the main reason for the rising number of women doctors. Regrettably,
most of our female doctors choose the easy work of gynecology and left
the tiresome 24 hours standby work to the male doctors.」
There is still a hard war for women who are already in or interested in
the field of medicine. Statistics shows that female doctors concentrate
in the departments of gynecology/obstetrics and pediatrics—the two
departments where women and children patients predominate. Looking into
the list of surgeons, you will probably not find a single woman. It
clearly shows that most people still question the ability of women.
They 「allow」 women to become gynecologists or pediatricians because it
is seen as women』s natural duty to deal with women and children. But
nobody would appoint a woman to perform brain or heart surgery. Looks
like we have a long to go yet in changing gender stereotypes.