title: Women in medicine: historical perspectives and recent trends.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Women now outnumber men in British medical schools. This paper charts the history of women in medicine and provides current demographic trends.
  
  
  METHODS
  A historical literature review and routinely collected data from Department of Health and the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Clear gender differences are apparent in working practices, including greater likelihood of working part time and specializing in certain areas of medicine.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The increasing need to increase activity among the existing medical workforce is timely amidst a changing workforce demographic.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Workforce planners, policymakers and Royal Colleges should continue to develop interventions that may reduce disparities in career choices, as well as considering ways to increase participation and activity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further research is needed to explore the cost-effectiveness of existing and future interventions in this field.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, The University of York, York, UK laura.jefferson@york.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jefferson
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, The University of York, York, UK.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bloor
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, The University of York, York, UK.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maynard
mesh_terms: D002321:Career Choice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends; D010822:Physicians, Women / Q000639:trends*; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: medical staff; personnel staffing; physician gender; statistics and numerical data