As a female physician (I hate it when people preface things with "as a ....." but I thought it might add some cred to my comments here) I have benefited greatly from the efforts of the brave feminists who preceded me, and I find it sad that smart women like my mother didn't have the opportunities I've had. Having said all that, I'm not convinced that the "feminization of medicine" has been a net positive thing for society. It seems that every time one of the older (mostly male) doctors in our community retires or dies, it takes at least two--and often three--young female doctors to replace them. Between maternity leaves, family responsibilities, and personality traits that make them (on average) more anxious and less well-adapted to dealing with stress (don't shoot the messenger--that's what the research shows) the productivity of the female physician workforce is pretty dismal. I can't help but wonder if this is why -- at least in part -- our healthcare system is crumbling into the ground. To be clear, I'm not blaming individual female physicians. I am one. And in some ways I think we have gotten it right in terms of prioritizing family and "work-life balance" over an exclusive career focus. But as a society, we should have seen this coming and planned for it. At the very least we should acknowledge it moving forward and plan accordingly. Maybe we could start by incentivizing productivity by returning to more "fee-for-service" based payment schemes. This would likely lead to a widening of the much maligned "gender pay gap" (and lead to howls of indignation from certain quarters) but anyone who's been to an Emergency Department in Canada recently surely knows that it's time for some tough decisions.
You need to cut your mother in law some slack. What your generation fails to realize is that parents of that generation went thru the great depression and into WW2. They were galvanized by their experiences and raised your mother in laws generation with frugality and strict rules. If you got the strap at school you would get it again at home. The baby boomers rebelled in the sixties, grew their hair long and pursued the pipe dream of universal peace and harmony and then matured into a similar mold of their parents. That is life. Your turn is coming.
“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” ― Mark Twain
As a female physician (I hate it when people preface things with "as a ....." but I thought it might add some cred to my comments here) I have benefited greatly from the efforts of the brave feminists who preceded me, and I find it sad that smart women like my mother didn't have the opportunities I've had. Having said all that, I'm not convinced that the "feminization of medicine" has been a net positive thing for society. It seems that every time one of the older (mostly male) doctors in our community retires or dies, it takes at least two--and often three--young female doctors to replace them. Between maternity leaves, family responsibilities, and personality traits that make them (on average) more anxious and less well-adapted to dealing with stress (don't shoot the messenger--that's what the research shows) the productivity of the female physician workforce is pretty dismal. I can't help but wonder if this is why -- at least in part -- our healthcare system is crumbling into the ground. To be clear, I'm not blaming individual female physicians. I am one. And in some ways I think we have gotten it right in terms of prioritizing family and "work-life balance" over an exclusive career focus. But as a society, we should have seen this coming and planned for it. At the very least we should acknowledge it moving forward and plan accordingly. Maybe we could start by incentivizing productivity by returning to more "fee-for-service" based payment schemes. This would likely lead to a widening of the much maligned "gender pay gap" (and lead to howls of indignation from certain quarters) but anyone who's been to an Emergency Department in Canada recently surely knows that it's time for some tough decisions.
You need to cut your mother in law some slack. What your generation fails to realize is that parents of that generation went thru the great depression and into WW2. They were galvanized by their experiences and raised your mother in laws generation with frugality and strict rules. If you got the strap at school you would get it again at home. The baby boomers rebelled in the sixties, grew their hair long and pursued the pipe dream of universal peace and harmony and then matured into a similar mold of their parents. That is life. Your turn is coming.
“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” ― Mark Twain