CON: Women's Health As a Specialty: A Deceptive Solution

Abstract

A proposed call for a new specialty in women's health is an attempt to rectify current inadequacies in the care of women. This paper discusses ninteenth century origins of the current organization of medical specialties in which the male body is the norm and woman becomes "other." Nineteenth century attitudes toward women, with the belief in the biological inferiority of women due to their sexual organs, and the replacement of midwives by physicians, became the basis of this bifurcated system of care in which women require two physicians for their ongoing care. A reorganization of medical specialties is proposed in which: (1) Internal medicine incorporates the primary care aspect of gynecology, as does family medicine; (2) Obstetrics and gynecology remains the surgical and referral specialty that it is; (3) Interdisciplinary research addresses gaps in understanding the role of reproductive events, hormones, and cycles to normal and pathological functioning; (4) Medical students are taught to identify across gender lines; (5) All specialties are examined for the purpose of making them "user friendly" to women; and (6) The medical profession addresses and rectifies past inequities in the conceptual framework about women and their subsequent denial of leadership opportunities. The need for education in women's health is acknowledged, but with the goal of making that need obsolete. A new specialty has the potential to further isolate women's issues from mainstream medicine and to marginalize its practitioners.