To think that a hospital should have a female gynecologist?

[crazyspaniel]

My local hospital only has male gynecologists. If I want to see a female practitioner I have to travel 40 miles. In the end I went to my local hospital and found the whole experience somewhat traumatic - the fact that the doctors were male was part of the reason for finding it so horrible and humiliating.

Is it really so hard to hire a female gynecologist? I get that consultants are often of a generation when not many women went into medicine (and particularly surgery), but there are now more women than men becoming doctors and one of the doctors in the room was SHO level (or whatever they call them now), so not of that generation. I really think this is one area of medicine where there should be female quotas and where each hospital should have at least one female practitioner.

I've never really thought about or been bothered by the sex of a Gynae before. I've had a baby, various internal examinations, internal scans. I was quite nervous the first time (that was a female Gynae) but now I've been half naked under a sheet that many times I really couldn't give two hoots who is doing it. All that matters to me is that they are a competent doctor. I've only ever had good experiences (well as good as you can with a speculum inserted, a bright light shining up your fanjo and a doctor having a look around).

I cannot work out why the OP is having such a hard time.

When I sign up to a new doctors sugery they always ask if I have a preference to have a male or female doctor.

Personally, I am happy for either its only how they treat me I care about.

However it is very normal that many women only feel comfortable with female doctors, for whatever their reasons are.

Everyone is different.

I find this thread a bit strange. Many many women do not want to have a male medic do things that involve their vaginas. I find it extraordinary that there are only about 2 people on this thread who understand that, and everyone else is saying it must be a phobia

Women of older generations, women who have been sexually assaulted by men, women who have religious convictions that require "modesty" when it comes to men, women who simply don't feel comfortable with the idea of taking their knickers off and spreading their legs for a random bloke even if he is a doctor.

As for the idea that has been raised that it is illegal to request a female to perform intimate procedures and examinations - that can't be right. As you can request female nurse for smear or even a female GP when you book your appointment. No-one raises an eyebrow. I am sure that men ask for a man (if they want one) if they need to have an intimate examination / talk about something private as well.

I think that the OP is not being U feeling as she does, but does need to understand that the NHS cannot have people on tap all the time, and so to work with what she has got and what is offered to make sure her medical needs are met.

Because it's a specialist, Coco. She needed specialist treatment and the complaint is that she has to travel 40 miles to see a female GYN and therefore, hospitals should have hiring quotas wrt to GYN and hire some on basis of gender.

THAT is why people are giving her a 'hard time'.

Travelling 40 miles is nothing, btw. We have to travel 3 hours each way to get to a childrens' hospital.

'As for the idea that has been raised that it is illegal to request a female to perform intimate procedures and examinations - that can't be right. '

No one said that. They said it is illegal to establish hiring 'quotas' based on gender alone. Because it is, it is sex discrimination.

And the OP is to the point where she's put off vital exams and having children because of a phobia of genital examination at all, much less with a male practitioner.

That's something that needs treated because it's endangering your health not to have smear tests.

Hiring staff based purely on gender? No thanks.

I'd rather see a skilled practitioner of any gender.

I'm sorry you felt that the person you saw wasn't helpful - but the fact that he was a man really is your problem. To want to negatively influence the hiring policies of a department against 50% of the population (thus having an impact on other service users) isn't right.

Whoever's best for the job, IMHO - if you have a problem with that, go and pay for private treatment where your money can dictate all manner of random criteria.

YABU.

But is is very normal for many, many women (and I agree with Sardine that a large majority will be older generations) to only want female medics.

There does need to be some sensitivity to that, even if it is irrelevant to others.

I am not sure why there are less female Gyno's I wonder if there are any studies on this if true.

I can understand that some people might prefer a female but if it bothered you that much perhaps you could have travelled the forty miles. People in rural areas would often have to travel that distance anyway in order to access treatment from a specialist. It's not realistic for every hospital to have female gynaecologists. However it should be quite easy to request a smear test be done by a woman, as there are plenty of female nurses.

lachesis andrew said that upthread

Cocoflower, I suppose my problem with it is that everyone has preferences about a great many things.

If a hospital starts to amend its hiring policies to take into account what people prefer, as opposed to medically need, how far do we go on that?

It's fine to schedule an appointment with a female member of staff where possible - of course. But to skew the hiring policies to take into account random patient preferences which have no medical basis whatsoever is a dangerous idea.IMHO.

gaaagh if you made all of the people performing smears male, an awful lot of women would stop having smears.

I get that you think that is their problem and they are being sexist, but really do you think that would be a good thing?

"It's fine to schedule an appointment with a female member of staff where possible - of course."

That's not what you said in your previous post

You said that if people don't like having men then they should go private.

Its not the hospital hiring policy I have issue with- its people's insensitivty and lack of understanding to the fact many women do want female only medics (perhaps the same vice versa for men) and she was getting a hard time for this.

Of course the hopsital needs to employ the best staff that is a given.

But Sardine, there are a lot of female nurses available in medical facilities. In the specialist area the OP is talking about, the pool of candidates would bar the marjority of potential interview candidates. I cannot think of this as a good thing.

I'm sure you'll agree that long term work should be done to attract a wider variety of talent to disproportionately represented genders in lots of professions (not just in medical - there are a heap of professions which need more women in them, such as engineering, IT, and so on - male primary teachers and caring roles) - but in the short term I don't see that positive discrimination is the way forward. In any environment.

If in this particular example that means more women putting off smear tests - I think whilst that's a tragic thing on an individual level, no positive discrimination is the lesser of two evils for the collective good. Sorry!

There is a general acceptance in society that we don't show our private parts to those of the opposite sex.

Changing rooms are separated by sex, and hospital wards are supposed to be single sex. So the sexism exists already for those. Some people cannot get past the conditioning that in our society we don't show our private parts to those of the opposite sex, even when it is for a medical reason. Why is this so hard to understand?

... and Sardine, where the NHS can provide for preferences of patients, I don't have a problem with it. But to demand influence on hiring policies, that's where I think the patient should go private. Not ask to dictate hiring terms.

"If in this particular example that means more women putting off smear tests - I think whilst that's a tragic thing on an individual level, no positive discrimination is the lesser of two evils for the collective good. Sorry!"

Christ really? So you would merrily cancel the current set-up where women can request a woman (and men can request a man) even if you know this will kill people? And even in situations where the women have reasons such as religion or sexual assault for asking?

I am a little gobsmacked, but fortunately you are not in charge of NHS policy (as far as I know).

"where the NHS can provide for preferences of patients, I don't have a problem with it."

I do have a problem with it Gaaagh. I would not allow someone to say eg they did not want a black person looking after them.

When I am being examined I am more concerned with their competency than their gender. Prefering a female when possible is reasonable, expecting hiring quotas is.

OP please get a smear, I get worked up before my smears and they are never as bad as I imagine they will be in advance.

"If in this particular example that means more women putting off smear tests - I think whilst that's a tragic thing on an individual level, no positive discrimination is the lesser of two evils for the collective good. Sorry!"

Agree Sardine

Shame on you gaahh

I also find it amusing that in our country we have a gender pay gap, women are not represented 50% in government, on boards, higher up in companies, anywhere really.

And yet people get much more worked up when someone suggests that maybe it would be a good idea to have some women available to do the job of looking at vaginas.

Don't worry Sardine, I don't work in the NHS.

I do perhaps have a harsher attitude than most about positive discrimination - I recognise that. The problem of equality of opportunity vs. equality of outcome isn't one I've taken lightly, if that makes you feel any better about my post(s) above - I do work in an environmnt which is dominated by one gender (against women, incidentally - in my company, I'm the only female employee if we discount HR and admin staff).

I'm also not in favour of single-gender hospital wards, and loved the German family holiday trip of ten years ago where "family" rooms were more common (and changing facilities were not gendered).

I recognise that most women wouldn't agree on some (if not all) of the points above. That's what makes MN so interesting to participate in!

yup
YUBU
sorry

I do have a problem with it Gaaagh. I would not allow someone to say eg they did not want a black person looking after them.

Um, if you're trying to infer that I would happily tolerate racist requests because I've stated that where practical I don't see a problem with taking patient preference into consideration, I don't even know how you got there.

Do I really even need to say that I wouldn't condone a racist request?!

So you would strip women of the rights to ask for a female for intimate examinations

You would remove the aim of single sex hospital wards

You would remove mixed changing areas

You realise that this would result in death for some women, mean that others were unable to buy clothes or participate in sports, and would make life a nightmare for a lot of elderly people on geriatric wards.

You know this and you don't care.

I don't understand that, at all. A little empathy never hurt, you know.