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Female doctors to outnumber male colleagues

By Alice Jones on Wednesday 30 November 2011

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Woman doctors REX

A rise in the number of female medical students in Britain suggests there will soon be more women working as GPs than men.

Medical school figures have shown that although the number of men entering medicine has doubled, the number of females have risen ten-fold.

However, despite the rapid increase, many female doctors still don’t seem to be reaching the highest positions - and research suggests that a gender pay gap still exists within the medical profession.

‘Although some of the discrepancy can be accounted for, up to 5 per cent is unexplained,’ says Dr Anita Holdcroft, Emeritus Professor of Anaesthesia at Imperial College London. ‘Women are obviously working longer hours for less pay than men.’

‘Research shows women often feel uncomfortable in negotiations over pay. But they are doing the work.’

Female doctors will soon be in the majority with medical school acceptance rates last year reaching 56 per cent and still rising. It's been suggested that this is because more men are leaving medicine for jobs in the city that offer more income and status.

Experts have predicted that women will outnumber male GPs within the next four years, and men across the profession as a whole by 2017.

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