WOMEN DOCTORS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 10, 11 July 1936, Page 19

WOMEN DOCTORS

"THE BEST CAREER"

"In my opinion," writes a woman doctor, "medicine offers the best career at present open to women, whether from the point of view of status or that of rewards, material and moral."

This is a sample of the answers received to a questionnaire sent to 255 medical women who entered St. Mary's Hospital Medical School between 1916 and 1924. Various statistical points are made in an analysis of the returns reported in the current issue of "The Lancet."

It is shown that over 90 per cent, of the women entrants managed to secure • qualification as medical practitioners, and of these over 80 per cent. were working when they returned their answers. Over 40 per cent, of the women doctors in this group have married, and there is only a slightly lower proportion of these working as compared with those who have .remained single.

The highest proportion of these women doctors are in general practice at home or abroad (40 per cent, of those at work) and at least 12 are in partnership, mostly with their husbands, but two with their fathers and one with a brother. .

One of the women doctors in partnership states that her share of the private receipts often equals or exceeds her husband's! Other individual comments reveal points of interest.

"Very, old people seem to prefer women doctors," writes one practitioner.

Another, working in the Belgian Congo, states that in the more advanced tribes natives come as readily to a woman doctor as to a man, but in the backward tribes a medical woman has far greater difficulties in securing patients.

Another states that having three children has increased rather than lessened her practice.

It seems clear that it often takes a woman doctor longer than a man to establish a practice with sufficient return to cover all expenses, but once established the returns analysed indicate that the medical profession offers great opportunities for a woman to maintain a family life and earn her living:

Almond Tart.—Line a piedish with pastry. Pick the bottom with a fork, and cover with a layer of jam. "Whisk together until thick the yolks of four eggs and two ounces'of castor sugar. Stir in two ounces of melted butter, the grated rind of a lemon, twelve drops of almond essence, and a dessertspoonful of ground almonds. Spread over the top and bake in a hot oven for ten .minutes. Reduce the heat, and cook for a further few minutes until the pastry is done. The whites of the eggs should be whisked to a stiff froth wjth a little icing sugar. Spread over the top of the pudding, dredge with icing sugar, and put in a cool oven until the meringue sets. Serve hot or cold..