Dr. Mom - not! - women pediatricians

American Demographics, July, 1997 by Nancy Ten Kate

On the whole, women prefer that other women deliver their babies, which has heightened demand for female midwives and obstetricians in the U.S. In the same way, many women might prefer female pediatricians because they assume such providers can personally relate to a mothers concerns. This assumption is only partly true. Part of the price women seem to pay in becoming childrens doctors is to forego children of their own.

Women have gained ground in pediatrics. The field is no longer dominated by the middle-aged father figures we may remember from our own childhood. Today, 42 percent of all pediatricians and 58 percent of those under age 45 are women, according to the 1996 Pediatric Specialty Survey. The share will continue to grow; in 1995, 63 percent of pediatric interns were women.

This should mean that it will be easier for mothers who seek a kindred soul in their pediatrician to find one. Maybe; maybe not. Female pediatricians are women, to be sure, but theyre more likely than their male counterparts to be single and childless. Among those under age 45, 16 percent of female and 6 percent of male pediatricians are single. Of pediatricians under age 45, 28 percent of women are childless, compared with 10 percent of men. Of pediatricians aged 45 and older, 12 percent of women are childless, versus just 3 percent of men. Female pediatricians who are mothers also have fewer children than their male counterparts. Fifty-six percent of male pediatricians have three or more children, nearly twice the 32 percent of women doctors with big families.

So what about involved fathers who seek other dads when they take kids to the doctor? Theyre in good company for the time being. Ninety-four percent of all male pediatricians are dads, too.

For more information on A Profile of Pediatricians and Their Practices conducted by Contemporary Pediatrics, contact Mary Doherty, Five Paragon Drive, Montvale, NJ 07645; telephone (201) 358-2231.