WOMEN DOCTORS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 108, 10 May 1933, Page 13

WOMEN DOCTORS

INCREASING DEMANDS

PROFESSOR'S DISCLOSURES

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, March 9. In a recent speech Professor Winifred Cullis made- the disclosure 1 that there is a serious scarcity of women doctors in this country, and she strongly advised all girls who were thinking of adopting a career to consider the .medical profession. "We have not nearly enough women doctors," she added, "and medicine not only gives the greatest happiness to the person who takes it up, but it also gives an extremely good financial return. ■ AYe get numbers of applications for women doctors at the London School of Medicine for Women, but we have not enough women in training for all the posts we are asked to fill." Miss M. L. Brooks (Warden and secretary of tho London School of Medicine for Women), discussing the position with a representative of .tho "Morning Post," remarked: — "Medicine today is one of the bestpaid professions open to women. The prejudice which has existed, and does exist, against women practitioners is disappearing with the- entry of women into all the professions, and the wider experience of life in general which they have acquired. The greater importance now attached to midwifery and gynaecology is to a considerable extent due to tho influence of women in the medical profession, and T know of many women doctors today w,ho have practices extending over an area with a radius of five miles. Again, the' new conscience with regard to maternity, maternal mortality, infant care, and the National Health Insurance—which necessitates the maintenance by employers of a high standard of health in factories and shops—has called for increased service on" tho part of women practitioners and specialists. The course of study for men and women is tho •ame, the expenditure of time and energy is the same, and the financial return can be the same." The number of women doctors on the Medical Register is now F391, out of a total of 55,932. Many these hold important official posts. Dr. Christine Murrell, tho first woman member of the Council of ths British Medical Association, has been nominated for election to the General Medical Council. There are, three vacancies on the council and Dr. Murrell has been put forward by one of the divisions of the association. The election will take place in November. Dr. Murrell is still the only woman on tho council of tho 8.M.A., to which she was elected in 1924, although there are nearly fiOOO women doctors in the United Kingdom. She has been previously nominated for election to the General Medical Council, but this year her election is regarded as more likely. A specialist in mental diseases, she is chairman of tho Kensington' Division of the B.M.A. and treasurer of tho Medical Women's Federation. She is a champion of the. rights of women, but insists on equality of opportunity for men and women. Her publications include "Womanhood and Health" and "Women Workers In Seven Professions." During the war Dr. Murrell was chairman of the executive committee of the Women's Emergency Corps, and later became president of the Women's Election Committee.