Women in Australian and New Zealand Psychiatry: The Fat Lady Sings

Abstract

Gender disadvantage within the professions significantly affects the development of women doctors, resulting in morbidity and less than optimal development. Paradoxically, for a profession primarily concerned with the study of the vicissitudes of human development, psychiatry in Australia and New Zealand has yet to articulate those issues which bear directly upon the development of its own members. Systemic problems are identified within the institutions of medicine and psychiatry which compromise the development of both female and male trainees and which must concern medical educators. Recommendations are made concerning the structure and content of training programmes, most particularly post-graduate psychiatry.

Adelaide Conversations: echoes that resound

“…Indeed, family therapy was initially rather slow responding to issues of gender and patriarchy, and to the feminist critique of "the family". Debora Leupnitz in her brilliant book The Family Interpreted, and locally Deborah Mclntyre, Kerrie James and Carolyn Quadrio among many others, have opened up this conversation and contributed to this history (Leupnitz, 1989;McIntyre, 1983, 1989;Quadrio, 1991).1 don't intend to go into detail about this. It is not my place.…”

Introducing Carolyn Quadrio

“…The marginalized position of women psychiatrists became apparent to Carolyn during a psychiatry conference in the 1980s; not a single woman chaired a session or even gave a presentation. Ironically, one well‐known professor closed the conference with the phrase, ‘the opera isn't over til the fat lady sings’ (Quadrio, ). But of course, there were no singing ladies – fat or thin.…”

“…But of course, there were no singing ladies – fat or thin. That experience moved Carolyn to undertake research on female representation in psychiatry (Kozlowska, ; Quadrio, , , ). Another important contextual factor was that psychiatry was in the process of shifting away from a relational/therapy framework towards a biological framework.…”

Women psychiatrists and research: so far, no further? An Australasian perspective on factors that encourage and hinder women psychiatrists' involvement in research

“…The relatively low involvement of women psychiatrists in research is a matter of concern [1−8]. Women are entering the profession in increasing numbers.…”

“…In Australia, for instance, currently one in four psychiatrists are women but they comprise half of those in training [9]. However, the proportion contributing to its academic advancement is diminishing [1,2,5,10,11]. Comparable figures exist for the US: only one in three academic psychiatrists are women and a mere 14% occupy senior professorial positions [12].…”