- Title
- The agenda for change among female rural general practitioners
- Creator
- Schwarz, Imogen
- Date
- 2003
- Type
- Text; Conference paper
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/31999
- Identifier
- vital:1561
- Abstract
- This paper presents the preliminary results of a qualitative study examining the agenda for change being pursued by key influential women in Australia to address male-centred rural general practitioner (GP) workforce policies. Many current recruitment and retention programs do not reflect the needs of female GPs as they are based on the traditional notions of a country GP — that is a full-time, on call doctor with a supporting spouse. As women become the majority in medicine, key women influentials in the rural general practice field are advocating for the restructuring of medicine so that women GPs can be part of the solution to rural health care issues. Previous empirical research and theoretical analyses have suggested that medicine and rural communities are patriarchal. To date data collection for this explorative study consists of 5 in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of key women activists across the spectrum of organised medicine. Preliminary results show how women are pressuring for change but also the sources of resistance they encounter from the dominant medical culture. Key women players use particular collective and individual strategies to advocate for female GP issues. These results reflect some research findings on women leaders and female rural GPs. In conclusion, it is important that women are given equal access to decision-making positions to enable their input into the structure and culture of rural general practice. The recommendation put forward is to build inclusive recruitment and retention rural workforce strategies for female rural GPs.; E1
- Publisher
- Canberra : National Rural Health Alliance
- Relation
- Paper presented at the 7th National Rural Health Conference, Canberra : 1st - 4th March, 2003
- Rights
- Open Access
- Rights
- Copyright National Rural Health Alliance
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- Qualitative; Study; Rural; General practitioners; Communities; Agenda
- Full Text
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