More than one in two doctors is female. And if you go under 55, women in service are the majority: between 40 and 44 they are in fact almost double their male colleagues. The data was presented by the National Federation of Surgeons and Dentists on International Women’s Day this year. Out of 329,263 doctors, the female percentage is already 52% and seems destined to grow. Among the over 55s, men are still the majority and the difference widens as age increases.
The specialties with the highest female representation
The specialties chosen most by professionals are gynecology e pediatrics. In the age group between 30 and 50, there are 2,667 anesthesiologists, compared to 1,720 male colleagues. Pediatric surgeons, considering the same range, are double their colleagues (120 against 62).
Furthermore, among the new generations, enrollments are growing general surgery, plastic, thoracic, vascular, even if men are always the majority. Then there are the cardiochirurghe, 136 against 261 men. If you look at cardiology instead there are 1,622 professionals compared to 1,431 doctors. A real charge is that of geriatricians, 1,029 against 331 colleagues of the same age, of physiatrists, 898 against 484 men, of internists, 1,690 against 938, of child neuropsychiatrists, 777 against 113, of rheumatologists, 414 against 160.
Even the oncologhealways keeping in mind the same age group, double the male colleagues, being respectively 769 and 312, and so the infectious disease specialists, 364 and 155. Specialties with a male prevalence remain orthopedics, urology, neurosurgery.
With these numbers in hand it is evident that the Italian Health Service is strongly represented by women. And although it is a fact that is now known at all levels, organizational models, working hours and salaries still do not take it into account. Even in this context, the numbers speak for themselves.