Karen Sibert's Essay 'Don T Quit This Day Job'

Karen Jones
Professor Poynter-Thompson
English 1113
November 12, 2014

Cultural Expectations for Female Doctors We have all been to or know someone who has been to a woman doctor. In “Don 't Quit this Day Job” the writer, Karen Sibert talks about a female doctor being criticized for the choices she has to make regarding her family. I will argue that the doctor has the right to choose what she wants to do with her career and her family life. Some people may think that you have to choose career or family but that is not always the case.

1In the year 2011 four out of ten female doctors reported working part time.2 In the essay the writer states that it certainly isn 't fashionable (certainly
not politically correct) to criticize “work-life balances” or part time work options. 3 Women doctors will outnumber men by 2017. But many are still not reaching the highest positions. Women doctors are often criticized of they want to do anything in their lives other than be a doctor. Women who chose to become a doctor should be commended because it takes a great deal of hard work and sacrifice for anyone to become a doctor especially a woman.
Women who chose to become a doctor are expected by many to only be a doctor and to not have a life outside of work. Many women are expected to give up their hopes and dreams of becoming a doctor and a wife and having children. That simply is not true. A woman can have a full time job and be a mother and a wife. Women are able to multitask better than most men. The choice to have a career and a family is the woman 's choice. If she feels that she can do it all then she should do it
all. Women who want to become doctors should not be penalized or forced to choose if they want a family later in life after they have established their careers and want more out of life. Men are not forced to choose if they want a family or to become a doctor. Men are expected to become doctors and to have a wife, and children. What makes people think male doctors better or more special than female doctors? They both go through the same training and the same schooling to become a doctor. The only difference that I can see or come up with is that one is male and one is female. 4 According to the AMA (2000), women now compose 22.8% of U.S.
physicians. Within academic institutions, 28% of full-time faculty are women, although their ranks are skewed toward the instructor or assistant professor levels. But the future does look promising. Women now make up 45.6% of new entrants to U.S. medical schools and are an entering majority in 36 schools. Women are excellent doctors especially in the field of obstetrics and gynecology. Who would know more about the female body than another female? Most female doctors will show more compassion and concern for the patient than a male doctor will. The female doctor does not get taught that in school, it comes from being a natural born caregiver. Most women whether they are doctors, wives or mothers are naturally compassionate and care about the wellbeing of others. Women are able to multitask in many different areas of their lives. A woman can be many things in her life and she does not have to only be one thing at a time or have to choose to have one role in life instead of the. Females can be a doctor, a wife, and a mother. There is no reason that a woman cannot “have it all” just like their male counterparts. Female doctors work as hard if not harder than male doctors because of to stigma that is placed on them if they choose to have a life
out side of work. 5In an article written by Glese Verlander, MD, JD, he stated that as women physicians struggle with the stresses associated with “having it all,” they should be reassured by two studies which found that male and female physicians without children experience less job satisfaction than doctors with children (36, 38). In those studies, physicians with the largest families somewhat surprisingly reported the greatest job satisfaction. I have worked with both female and male doctors who have families (spouses and children). I do not see any difference in the way that the female doctor works from the male doctors. In conclusion I believe that female doctors have every right to have a full time career and a spouse and children if they choose to do that with their lives. I will say it again; female doctors should not be punished or criticized for wanting to have a fulfilling life with a spouse and children and a full time job or if they choose a part time job. I see it as their reward for working so hard and achieving a very hard and rewarding career of helping to heal people.

Work Cited
 Essay “Don 't Quit the Day Job”

2 New York Times, June 11, 2011
3 Jennifer Hope, Daily Mail-November 30, 2011
4 American Medical Association, 2000. Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. Chicago, IL:

5 Amick BC, Kawachi I, Coakley EH, Levine S, Colditz A: Relationship of job strain and iso-strain to health status in a cohort of women in the United States. Scand J Work Environ Health1998;24:54–61
Cujec B, Oancia T, Bohm C, Johnson D: Career and parenting satisfaction among medical students, residents, and physician teachers at a Canadian medical school. Can Med Assoc J 2000; 162:637–640