Women in Profession: Case Studies of Doctors in Central India

The problems and challenges of the women doctors in India have been discussed in an historical perspective. The first Indian women ‘Anandibai Joshi’ graduated in 1886, 131 years earlier. Currently, Indian women started to outnumber men in admissions to medical colleges and the trend still continues. For the last five years India has produced 4,500 more female doctors than male ones. This research paper is based upon three case-studies conducted in the city of Bhopal in India. There is still an acute shortage of female doctors in Indian society. The very problems and challenges faced by women doctors in government and non-government hospitals & clinics have been identified and discussed in this paper. Additionally, the problems arising out of the dual role between professional life and household work and its mechanisms for resolution have also been discussed in this paper. Some of the important findings are discussed towards the end of the research paper like: The role conflict emerges out for female doctors at both the levels-higher and lower ;(ii) the professional life consumes a lot of available time with them ;(iii) specially at the time of night-duties they have the fear of sexual-harassment, violence and (iv) women doctors and their services are appreciated by the society in general and have acquired a higher status.