Over the past few years, women have come forward in large numbers to pursue the field of medicine and become talented doctors who can help save lives around them.
Because of this, there has been a huge debate as to whether women are better doctors than men and vice versa – the pro-men argument of which I discussed in my last article.
One major issue that people like to point out about female medical students is that most of them leave their studies once they get married and do not usually pursue their fields. This way, these women waste an admission seat which could have gone to a man, who would definitely have joined the workforce – according to these people. This is why we saw the recent 50% gender-based quota established by the PMDC so that equal number of people could have access to medical colleges.
Because of this, many teachers discourage women from doing well in their studies, as they believe that these students would eventually leave and not give anything back to this field.
But that is not always the case. In my experience, a large number of women are able to pursue their fields, become specialists and give excellent healthcare to their patients. So discouraging them through teachers or admission quotas isn’t entirely fair. To reiterate my point, here is a list of five reasons why I feel women are better doctors than men.
Women are good at multitasking
Most Pakistani women are trained to sweep and clean their house, while cooking a meal for 10 people and looking after the children as well. If anything, our women are the queens of multitasking. As such, this quality makes a person a better doctor too. Women are able to juggle between patients and attendants and between hospitals and clinics very easily, as they have learned the art to do multiple things together. This makes them better than men – who are usually more focused on one thing.
Women have an inherent ability to sympathize
They understand their patient’s pain and symptoms better than a male doctor and tend to spend more time with their patients. According to a study conducted in University of Montreal, female practitioners spend more time with their patients where as males tend to be more money-oriented.
Women are better care-givers
Many patients feel more comfortable in being treated by a female doctor as they can feel a maternal instinct in them which is completely absent in male doctors.
Female doctors have a monopoly on some fields
Even though there are many good male gynecologists in Pakistan, most women – and their husbands too – prefer going to a female doctor for their gynecology-related issues. Furthermore, women have made a name for themselves in this field, and in dermatology too, and that is something which makes women better than men in some instances.
Women are perseverant
Once they get their minds to it, women are able to excel in any and all fields. And medicine is no different. I have seen female doctors put in all-nighters to get their duties done, even when they had many other household responsibilities. This is something which makes them truly formidable.
The fact that there has been more female turn-over at medical entrance exam is evidence enough of the Pakistani female’s intellect.
