Getting in and getting on in medical careers: how the rules of the game are gendered

This paper examines discourses about medical careers through the lens of gender.The supposed feminization of medicine has prompted much professional and public discourse on the issue of gender and medical careers.Discourses centered on gender imbalance at entry to medical school are contrasted with women's accounts of their medical careers.Data consists of both primary (24 interviews with senior female doctors) and secondary sources (national press reports, interviews, records of speeches etc.) drawn from Ireland and the United Kingdom.From the data, we explore what is seen as a problem in terms of gender and medical careers and what is not, how problems are discussed (in individual or systemic terms), and thus what changes are legitimized.We discuss the consequences of this for women in medicine and medical careers more broadly.