Practice patterns and family life--a survey of Melbourne medical graduates

To investigate sex differences in the professional achievements and personal life-styles of graduates, a questionnaire survey was conducted. The sample comprised surviving female medical graduates of the University of Melbourne and an equal number of male medical graduates who were matched by year of graduation. The final response rate was 70% (1764 subjects returned questionnaires) and was representative for both age and sex. This article describes the practice patterns and family lives of graduates. Considerable sex-related differences were found in the professional achievements and personal life-styles of the surveyed medical graduates. Women's professional careers tended to be more circumscribed than were those of male colleagues. Women were less involved in areas outside clinical practice such as teaching or lecturing, committees, medical administration, and research and its publication. Female doctors earned significantly (P less than 0.0001) less than did male doctors and were more likely to work as employees, locums or in sessional employment (P less than 0.0001). Women were more involved in all aspects of household activities, especially during midlife (40-60 years of age)--the peak career years for male doctors. The career underachievement of female doctors is likely to continue unless considerable changes are made to current postgraduate training schemes and career structures.