Knowledge Center

Women in U.S. Medicine

Educational Achievement

• In the U.S., women were 47.0% of all first year medical school students in 2010-2011.1

Women Physicians

• In 2012, 34.3% of all physicians and surgeons were women.2
• In 2012, women were 69.7% of all medical and health services managers.3
• In 2010, there were 10 specialties with more than 5,000 female physicians (listed in descending order):
  • Internal Medicine4
  • Pediatrics5
  • General/Family Medicine6
  • Obstetrics/Gynecology7
  • Psychiatry8
  • Anesthesiology9
  • Emergency Medicine10
  • Pathology11
  • General Surgery12
  • Diagnostic Radiology13
• Women are 45.4% of all residents/fellows, an increase since 1980 when women were just 21.5% of all residents.14
• 80.5% of all women physicians were in patient care, versus 74.6% of all male physicians.15 16

Women in Academic Medicine in the United States

• In 2009-2010, of 129,929 medical school faculty, women were 36.0% of medical faculty members.17

• In 2009, women were:
  • 36% of promotions to associate professor positions,18
  • and 28% of promotions to full professor.19
• Nancy Edwards was named the Dean of Duke’s Medical School in 2007, making her the first woman to lead any of the top 10 medical schools in the US.20

Women of Color in Medicine

• In 2010 of women whose race/ethnicity was known, 38.5% of women physicians were women of color.21

Women in Canadian Medicine

• Women are 36.4% of all physicians.22
• In 2011, women received 57.1% of all MD degrees earned.23
• These numbers have been mostly rising since 1940, when women were just 4.1% of all MD degree recipients.24
• 1996 was the first year more women received MD degrees than men, with women receiving one more degree than men.25

Women in Medicine Worldwide

• Of all physician graduates worldwide in 2010, 32.0% were women.26 27
• In 2012, women were 57.1% of all health professionals and 46.0% of all medical practitioners in the U.K..28
• In 2013, 46.5% of physicians in Norway are women.29
• In 2004, women were:
  • 35.7% of physicians in France,30
  • 25.3% of physicians in Iceland,31
  • 35.3% of physicians in Italy,32
  • 14.7% of physicians in Jordan,33
  • 25.0% of physicians in Kenya.34

Women Nobel Prize Winners

• Since 1901, only ten women have won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine:
  • Gerty Theresa Cori, nee Radnitz (1947)35
  • Rosalyn Yalow (1977)36
  • Barbara McClintock (1983)37
  • Rita Levi-Montalcini (1986)38
  • Gertrude B. Elion (1988)39
  • Christiane Nusslein-Volhard (1995)40
  • Linda B. Buck (2004)41
  • Francoise Barre-Sinoussi (2008)42
  • Elizabeth H. Blackburn (2009)43
  • Carol W. Greider (2009)44

How to cite this product: Catalyst. Catalyst Quick Take: Women in Medicine. New York: Catalyst, 2013.

• 1. Barbara Barzansky and Sylvia I. Etzel, "Medical Schools in the United States, 2010-2011," JAMA, vol. 306, no. 9 (September 17, 2011).
• 2. Current Population Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Table 11: Employed Persons by Detailed Occupation, Sex, Race, and Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity," Annual Averages 2012 (2013).
• 3. Current Population Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Table 11: Employed Persons by Detailed Occupation, Sex, Race, and Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity," Annual Averages 2012 (2013).
• 4. Derek R. Smart, Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 5. Derek R. Smart, Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 6. Derek R. Smart, Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 7. Derek R. Smart, Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 8. Derek R. Smart, Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 9. Derek R. Smart, Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 10. Derek R. Smart, Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 11. Derek R. Smart, Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 12. Derek R. Smart, Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 13. Derek R. Smart, Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 14. Derek R. Smart, Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 15. Derek R. Smart, "Table 1.12: Male Physicians by Self-Designated Specialty and Activity, 2010," Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 16. Derek R. Smart, "Table 1.13: Female Physicians by Self-Designated Specialty and Activity, 2010," Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 17. Jennifer Leadley and Rae Anne Sloan, Women in U.S. Academic Medicine: Statistics and Benchmarking Report 2009-2010, Association of American Medical Colleges (2011).
• 18. Jennifer Leadley and Rae Anne Sloan, Women in U.S. Academic Medicine: Statistics and Benchmarking Report 2009-2010, Association of American Medical Colleges (2011).
• 19. Jennifer Leadley and Rae Anne Sloan, Women in U.S. Academic Medicine: Statistics and Benchmarking Report 2009-2010, Association of American Medical Colleges (2011).
• 20. Rebecca Wu, "Harvard Doctor Named Med Dean," The Chronicle of Higher Education (August 28, 2007).
• 21. Derek R. Smart, "Table 1.22: Female Physicians by Race/Ethnicity," Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 22. Canadian Medical Association, "Percent Distribution of Physicians by Age, Sex and Province/Territory, Canada 2012" (January 2012).
• 23. The Association of Faculties of Medicine in Canada, Canadian Medical Education Statistics 2011.
• 24. The Association of Faculties of Medicine in Canada, Canadian Medical Education Statistics 2011.
• 25. The Association of Faculties of Medicine in Canada, Canadian Medical Education Statistics 2011.
• 26. Derek R. Smart, "Table 1.6: Male International Medical Graduates by Age and Self-Designated Specialty," Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 27. Derek R. Smart, "Table 1.7: Female International Medical Graduates by Age and Self-Designated Specialty," Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S. 2012 (American Medical Association, 2012).
• 28. National Statistics, "Labour Force Survey: Employment Status by Occupation and Sex," April-June 2012 (2013).
• 29. "General Statistics on Doctors in Norway," (2013).
• 30. World Health Organization, "By Gender Distribution," Global Health Observatory Data Repository (2013).
• 31. World Health Organization, "By Gender Distribution," Global Health Observatory Data Repository (2013).
• 32. World Health Organization, "By Gender Distribution," Global Health Observatory Data Repository (2013).
• 33. World Health Organization, "By Gender Distribution," Global Health Observatory Data Repository (2013).
• 34. World Health Organization, "By Gender Distribution," Global Health Observatory Data Repository (2013).
• 35. Nobel Prize, "Nobel Prize Awarded Women" (2012).
• 36. Nobel Prize, "Nobel Prize Awarded Women" (2012).
• 37. Nobel Prize, "Nobel Prize Awarded Women" (2012).
• 38. Nobel Prize, "Nobel Prize Awarded Women" (2012).
• 39. Nobel Prize, "Nobel Prize Awarded Women" (2012).
• 40. Nobel Prize, "Nobel Prize Awarded Women" (2012).
• 41. Nobel Prize, "Nobel Prize Awarded Women" (2012).
• 42. Nobel Prize, "Nobel Prize Awarded Women" (2012).
• 43. Nobel Prize, "Nobel Prize Awarded Women" (2012).
• 44. Nobel Prize, "Nobel Prize Awarded Women" (2012).