WOMEN PHYSICIANS IN QUEBEC

This article presents the results of a qualitative study on women phys icians in Quebec which aimed to go beyond a mere statistical descripti on of the tendencies observed in their practices. It proposes an inter pretation of their discourses on their practice and its context bringi ng to light the interdependence of individual strategies and structura l constraints. We met 30 women physicians and eight men physicians ask ing them to talk freely about their personal and professional experien ce. The data reveal how the individual characteristics and interests o f women physicians prevail in their decisions at key moments in their lives which have repercussions on the shaping of their practice. These moments include admission into the faculty of medicine, training, pro fessional orientation and the choice of a specialized field, organizat ion of professional practice and personal life. The medical practice o f women is constructed through these choices and the gender variable p lays a more or less significant role at each stage of this constructio n. Their distinctive choices reflect how gender relations are reproduc ed in the private sphere and the interactions between their private an d professional lives. According to our participants, a difference lies in the place occupied by their profession in women and men physicians ' lives. The private life of women physicians appears to be closely li nked to their decisons regarding the organization of their professiona l life and as a result to the health services they provide, suggesting they have their own way of ''being a physician''. The individual natu re of the strategies they adopt can have, at a collective level, conse quences on the planning and the distribution of medical-resources in t he publicly managed health care system in Quebec while raising the glo bal issue of gendered division of labor. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd .