Stethoscopes and headscarves: female medical students in present-day Afghanistan.
BACKGROUND
This descriptive study reviews the experiences and challenges of female medical students in Afghanistan in the post-Taliban era, addressing issues specific to them as women and also in the wider context of the practice of medicine as it currently exists in this country.


METHODS
Six female students were observed on in-patient internal medicine clerkships at the National Military Hospital (NMH) in Kabul, Afghanistan. The women also participated in a structured interview used to outline their values and perceptions as females in new roles and an evolving culture.


RESULTS
Responding to the structured interview questions, the women called attention to gender-neutral issues and readily identified gender discrimination, but did not embrace uniquely feminine traits in themselves nor view themselves as women physicians to any appreciable degree.


CONCLUSIONS
Although women are now attending medical school and practicing medicine again, their integration into Afghan culture as physicians remains at the developmental stage.
Schexneider
Katherine
K
National Naval Medical Center, Laboratory Department, Bethesda, MD 20889, USA.
D000346:Afghanistan; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006772:Hospitals, Military; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D010822:Physicians, Women; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult