A renowned advertising executive, Neil French recently resigned after creating an uproar over a remark made about why women don't make it to creative directorship. He said something to the effect that because of motherhood, women just do not have what it takes to get to the top of the heap in the advertising world.
In my personal opinion, his remarks probably holds true for many other professions, including Medicine. The demands & time needed to, first of all, complete medical school, then internship, and then possibly traineeship, are arduous & draining, both physically & mentally. I know that there are thousands of ladies out there who have become excellent clinicians and heads of departments, or set up their own GP clinics working morning noon & night for most of the week and at the same time, have managed to start families, balancing work & family life with amazing dexterity. But one wonders if the quality of life achieved is satisfactory, and whether their families (especially the children) suffer as a result of this tenuous balance.
We may want to be Supermom & Superdoc concurrently, & there are probably some women out there who can be both, but I think that is the exception rather than the rule. Like it or not, women ARE from Venus & men ARE from Mars, and apart from our physical differences, the psychological and emotional make-up of the two genders are very different. Somehow, when men are at work, they are able to focus totally on their job - forget about planning for dinner or whether the kids have homework, or whether the kids are revising for their tests/exams etc. Women, on the other hand, often times have to multitask - seeing patients, planning what's for dinner, making up a grocery list, worrying whether the kids are doing their homework...
I told my ex-boss once after lamenting about the shortage of doctors in our practice: it's tough hiring female doctors, isn't it? What with maternity leave and going part-time once the babies arrive, and children's MC etc... He just smiled & said "You said it, I didn't!" I guess many people don't voice out what is quite obvious in their minds for fear of repurcussions (a la Neil French). But we have to admit that something's gotta give...
Flame on people (:::putting on my asbestos suit:::)
1 comment:
No need to put on any flameproof jacket :P What u said is fact of life in SG, ya?
I've got several expats whose wives happen to be medical professionals, who follow their hubbies to SG... these wives try to balance in their lifestyle and careers.
One is a Dentist who runs a practice long distance, giving advice via internet to her junior partners on complicated cases; and fly back only on special patients or cases that require her expertise.
Another is a highly regarded ER Dr in her home country, but decided to return home when she realized that the system in SG not flexible enough to her liking... and i lost one valuable dude coz he has to follow wifey home...
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