Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2013 Mar, 229(3)

Gender Role Stereotype and Poor Working Condition Pose Obstacles for Female Doctors to Stay in Full-Time Employment: Alumnae Survey from Two Private Medical Schools in Japan

MIKI IZUMI,1 KYOKO NOMURA,2 YUKO HIGAKI,3 YU AKAISHI,1 MASAYASU SEKI,1,4 SHIZUKO KOBAYASHI,1 TAKAYUKI KOMODA1 and JUNJI OTAKI1,5

1Department of Medical Education, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan
2Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
3Institute of Women's Health, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo, Japan
4The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
5Department of Medical Education, Hokkaido University, Faculty of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

The shortage of physicians has become a serious problem in Japan. It has been pointed out that an increase in the number of female doctors may contribute to the aggravation of this shortage because it is known that women work fewer hours than male doctors. Here, we investigated how many female doctors had ever resigned from a full-time position, and elucidated the reasons why female doctors find it difficult to stay in full-time employment. An alumnae survey of 2 private medical schools was conducted in 2007. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to 1423 graduates and 711 responded with informed consent (response rate, 50%; mean age, 39 years). Overall, 55% of the respondents had previously resigned from full-time employment, of which 90% resigned within 10 years of graduating from medical school. The difficulty in balancing work, childbirth and child rearing (45%) were the top 2 reasons for resignation, followed by physical problems (12%) and long working hours (8%). Among those who resigned, only 33% returned to full-time employment. Women who had at least 1 child were only 30% of those who had never resigned and 84% of those who had previously resigned. The majority of study subjects, regardless of experience of resignation (88%), agreed that women should continue to work even after childbirth. In conclusion, the results of this study suggested that many female doctors resigned from a full-time position within 10 years of graduating from medical school, largely because of the gender role stereotype and poor working conditions.

keywords —— Continuous employment; female doctor; full-time employment; gender role stereotype; working conditions

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2013, 229, 233-237

Correspondence: Miki Izumi, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Medical Education, Tokyo Medical University, 6-7-1 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0023, Japan.

e-mail: mizumi@tokyo-med.ac.jp