The MWF, funded by the Women and Equality Unit, has been researching ways to facilitate part-time working in the medical profession. The research consisted of interviews and focus groups with part-time doctors of all grades and specialties throughout the UK as well as representatives from the Royal Colleges, Deaneries and HR. Our summary document will be published on the 19th of June.
A press release is available via the above link but if you would like further
information about the report or the launch event we are hosting to celebrate
it's publication, please contact Lucy on 0207 387 7765
MWF President-Elect Dr Fabre made her contribution to the 'Valuing GP Campaign' currently being run by GP magazing. Click on the above link to view the article.
The Medical Women’s Federation (MWF) held their spring meeting at the Culloden Hotel Belfast from Friday the 9th to Saturday the 10th May 2008. The educational programme looked at ‘what makes women sick’ and was opened by Michael McGimpsey, health minister for Northern Ireland, who acknowledged the importance of women in the medical workforce. Eminent local speakers covered a variety of important women’s health issues including pain in women, the importance of diet and increasing incidences of heart disease in women. Ms Paddy Sloane, national head for BBC Children in Need Northern Ireland highlighted the problems specific to underprivileged women and children, with one in three children living in poverty in Northern Ireland. The MWF 2008 Essay Prizes were awarded to Sophie Bertaud and John Williamson both fourth year medical students at University College Hospital London. Both of these students addressed important sexual health issues for women, namely the availability of the contraceptive pill over the counter and the vaccination programme for the human papillomavirus.
The Medical Women’s Federation passed a motion unanimously to encourage the Departments of Health to invest in schemes to prevent trainee doctors being lost from the medical workforce given the current likely hood of medical unemployment in the UK. A motion was also passed to support no change in the time limit for abortion as stated in the 1990 amendment of the 1967 abortion act.
Dr Helen Goodyear, in her inaugural presidential address entitled ‘The
Glass Ceiling Marathon’ compared shattering the glass ceiling to a long
distance event. She emphasized that MWF will campaign and support women doctors
to ensure that they are able to work in all specialties and at all grades
with family friendly working hours.
The Medical Women's Federation has been representing women doctors and their patients for over 90 years. When it was founded in 1917, it was very difficult for women to get into medical school, and their subsequent careers were also fraught with problems.
Although the situation regarding access to medical training has now been dramatically reversed, there are still many difficulties in the way of female doctors who wish to combine childbearing with a medical career. This explains the comment made by Jane Dacre on radio 4 this morning about attrition - how the women who graduate from medical school are less likely to progress in their careers than their male counterparts. We have heard people describing women wanting to have children and a career as "Having their cake and eating it" but as Cherie Blair once famously said, we think of it as a juggling act.
Women are getting their places at medical school on merit. Are people really suggesting that well qualified, clever and motivated women should not have access to this worthwhile and rewarding career?
Surely it is the job of all of us to help them overcome the problems they face rather than just planning to reduce the numbers of women facing the problem. The MWF and many of the representative bodies in medicine, such as the colleges, have been having discussions with the Chief Medical Officer and the Department of Health to make plans to cope with the rise in the population of women doctors and would like to point out that we prefer to look upon the situation as a challenge rather than a problem.
Entitled 'Rising Above the Glass Ceiling' Susan Ward discusses the challenges facing women in medicine and the implications for workforce planning. Click on the link above to view the article.
Dr De Souza and Dr Ramsay, MWF secretaries celebrate the Federations 90th birthday and why it is still relevant today.
For press all press enquiries please contact Lucy in the office on:
0207 387 76765 or admin.mwf@btconnect.com
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