"Do we need a National Women Physician's Day"?

Today, February 3, 2018, is National Women Physician's Day (NWPD) in the United States.  NWPD was first observed last year and commemorates the birthday of Elizabeth Blackwell, MD, the first woman in the United States to receive a medical degree. 


Elizabeth Blackwell was born in Bristol, England in 1821.  Her family moved to the United States (New York City at first, later Cincinnati, Ohio, where she spent her formative years) when she was eleven years of age, both for financial reasons and because her father wanted to help abolish slavery.  Dr. Blackwell was a relative late-comer to medicine, beginning her career as a teacher (a profession that was then considered more appropriate for a female).  In fact, the thought of practicing medicine initially seemed repulsive to her, as she suggested in her memoir (Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women, published in 1895), writing that she "...hated everything connected with the body, and could not bear the sight of a medical book...My favorite studies were history and metaphysics, and the very thought of dwelling on the physical structure of the body and its various ailments filled me with disgust."


Dr. Blackwell eventually turned to medicine when a close friend who was dying told her that she would have suffered far less if her physician had been a woman.  She would write, "My mind is fully made up.  I have not the slightest hesitation on the subject; the thorough study of medicine, I am quite resolved to go through with.  The horrors and disgusts I have no doubt of vanquishing.  I have overcome stronger distastes than any that now remain, and feel fully equal to the contest.  As to the opinion of people, I don't care on straw personally; though I take so much pains, as a matter of policy, to propitiate it, and shall always strive to do so; for I see continually how the highest good is eclipsed by the violent or disagreeable forms which contain it."


Dr. Blackwell convinced two physician friends to let her work with them for a year (an early example of "shadowing") and applied to all of the medical schools in New York and Philadelphia, as well as 12 more schools throughout the Northeast.  The faculty at New York's Geneva Medical College assumed that the all-male student body would never allow a female to join their ranks and decided to let them vote on whether to admit her to the college or not.  A number of the male students, largely as a joke, voted "yes" and she was accepted, graduating in 1849. 


Dr. Blackwell practiced medicine in London and Paris for the first few years and studied midwifery at the La Maternite, where she contracted "purulent ophthalmia" (i.e., ophthalmia neonatorum, or gonococcal conjunctivitis) from one of her patients.  She lost sight in one eye and returned to New York in 1851, giving up her dream of practicing as a surgeon.  She struggled to establish her practice, as there were few patients that wanted to come to a female physician and even fewer physician colleagues who would work with her.  She eventually opened her own dispensary, and her sister, Dr. Emily Blackwell joined her in 1856.  Together, they would establish the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in 1857.


Throughout her career, she was a passionate advocate and supporter of medical education for women.  She established the New York Infirmary in 1857, largely in response to the need to provide medical internships for women physicians, who were usually rejected at other hospitals around the country (merely because they were women).  Dr. Blackwell was a pioneer who paved the way for all women physicians - for that, it is right and appropriate that we recognize her today.


A few of my colleagues have asked me, "Why should we celebrate Women Physician's Day?"  I respond by first citing the statistics.  While the number of women physicians has increased significantly during my career, as of 2016 only 35% of physicians are women.  Unfortunately, a study published last year in JAMA Internal Medicine found that women physicians earn, on average, 8% less than their male counterparts.  One-third of women physicians report experiencing sexual harassment in their work environments, and a large percentage experience gender bias.  Just ask any woman physician whether she has been called "Honey" or been told "Nurse, I would like to speak to the doctor."  I also talked about a study in a previous post that found that women physicians were more likely to be introduced using their first name, even when presenting at professional conferences, as opposed to their male counterparts who are introduced as “Doctor”.  This is in spite of the fact that there are studies that suggest that women may actually be better physicians than men (see one of my previous posts, here). 


So back to my original question and the title of this post - "Do we need a National Women Physician's Day?"  In a world where we need to have a #MeToo movement, where Time magazine recognizes the women who stood up to sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace in its annual "Man/Woman of the Year" issue, and where it is okay to sell T-shirts and campaign posters and bumper stickers during the 2016 Presidential Election saying things like "Trump that Bitch" or "Life's a Bitch - Don't vote for one", I would say absolutely, 100% yes!  Women make outstanding physicians too!  Certainly they deserve the same rights and privileges that male physicians receive - most of us would not argue that point.  But the fact remains that in most cases, we are falling short in this regard.  In addition to all of the statistics I cited above, the evidence also suggests that women physicians are at a much greater risk of burn-out than their male counterparts - when you recognize that the rate of burn-out in physicians is twice that of most other professions outside of health care, that is saying a lot!


So while we have so much more work to do, today I recognize and thank all of my women physician colleagues - today is your day.  Thank you for doing what you do.  And thank you, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, for making it all possible!