Organisation calls for women’s representation on medical syndicate council

AMMAN — The Jordanian Medical Association (JMA) should allocate 30 per cent of its council membership to women to reduce the obstacles facing female doctors, the Sisterhood Is Global Institute - Jordan (SIGI) said on Wednesday.

Women comprise 17.2 per cent of the membership of the JMA but do not hold any positions on its 13-member council, according to a Department of Statistics (DoS) report conducted in 2014. 

In a statement, SIGI called for a fairer allocation of seats on the council so that female doctors would have representatives in decision-making positions.

According to the DoS report, most female doctors have majored in general medicine, while 330 specialise in gynaecology and 204 in paediatrics.  

No female doctors are specialised in neurology, brain surgery or orthopaedics. 

SIGI said the lack of female practitioners in several medical fields was due to the challenges facing women who enter the profession. 

Some women face opposition from family, society and sometimes colleagues or professors who believe medicine is a male profession. 

Due to stereotypes about doctors, women are sometimes perceived as challenging norms just by working in the field, SIGI added. 

If a female doctor makes a mistake, it is often more damaging to her career than if a male doctor makes the same error, according to SIGI. A male doctor can often make several mistakes without losing his job, the organisation noted.