title: Gender and the professional career of primary care physicians in Andalusia (Spain).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although the proportion of women in medicine is growing, female physicians continue to be disadvantaged in professional activities. The purpose of the study was to determine and compare the professional activities of female and male primary care physicians in Andalusia and to assess the effect of the health center on the performance of these activities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive, cross-sectional, and multicenter study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Spain.
  
  
  METHODS
  
  
  
  METHODS
  urban health centers and their physicians.
  
  
  METHODS
  88 health centers and 500 physicians.
  
  
  METHODS
  gender.
  
  
  METHODS
  Control variables: age, postgraduate family medicine specialty (FMS), patient quota, patients/day, hours/day housework from Monday to Friday, idem weekend, people at home with special care, and family situation.
  
  
  METHODS
  24 professional activities in management, teaching, research, and the scientific community. Self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive, bivariate, and multilevel logistic regression analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  
  
  
  RESULTS
  73.6%. Female physicians: 50.8%. Age: female physicians, 49.1 ± 4.3 yrs; male physicians, 51.3 ± 4.9 yrs (p < 0.001). Female physicians with FMS: 44.2%, male physicians with FMS: 33.3% (p < 0.001). Female physicians dedicated more hours to housework and more frequently lived alone versus male physicians. There were no differences in healthcare variables. Thirteen of the studied activities were less frequently performed by female physicians, indicating their lesser visibility in the production and diffusion of scientific knowledge. Performance of the majority of professional activities was independent of the health center in which the physician worked.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are gender inequities in the development of professional activities in urban health centers in Andalusia, even after controlling for family responsibilities, work load, and the effect of the health center, which was important in only a few of the activities under study.
authors.affiliation: Andalusian School of Public Health, Cuesta del Observatorio 4, 18080 Granada, Spain. ana.delgado.easp@juntadeandalucia.es
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delgado
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Saletti-Cuesta
authors.forename: Luis Andrés
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: López-Fernández
authors.forename: Juan de Dios
authors.initials: Jde D
authors.lastname: de Dios Luna
authors.forename: Inmaculada
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mateo-Rodriguez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002322:Career Mobility; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care; D010822:Physicians, Women; D011287:Prejudice; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain