PHYSICIANS GENDER AND CLINICAL OPINIONS OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH MATTERS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of physicians' gender when sex-specific conditions are being treated in a country wh ere almost half of the physicians are women. Five Finnish surveys orig inally conducted for other purposes were reanalyzed. Two surveys exami ned physicians' and medical students' views about hormone therapy duri ng and after menopause, one survey examined medical students' attitude s about medicines, one survey examined physicians' obstetric practices , and one examined contraceptive counselling. All the surveys showed m ore similarities than differences in the clinical decision-making of w omen and men physicians. In opinions about menopause the physician's m edical specialty was more important than gender. Physicians' obstetric al practices were also similar in five cases out of six, but in one si tuation where medical factors were not a deciding issue, women physici ans acted differently These results suggest that socialization into th e medical profession makes physicians' practices more alike and dimini shes gender differences.