Training Martians and Venusians on Jupiter: Gender Equity in Medical Training

Master Craftsmen and Professional Trainers

Medical Education is key to ensuring that skills and communication developed by the profession are passed on from generation to generation. The apprentice model was embedded as a tool to enable this, with an apprentice defined as a person who is learning a trade from a skilled employer, having agreed to work for a fixed period at low wages. The term apprentice is derived from the French, appendre, to learn and applications were made to become an apprentice to learn from the expert. The expectation of the learner was that they would continue with the teacher until the craft was learnt.

The time spent in training enabled an individual to experience a wide range of clinical conditions. In surgical specialities, this would allow the apprentice to participate through assistantships and then through supervised operating finally to independent surgical operating. This required a relationship to be developed between the master and the apprentice which was largely subservient. The relationships were often male to male as the medical profession initially excluded the female gender. A social and educational medical hierarchy and language developed to facilitate this. This norm was unchallenged and was acceptable before the millennium where the medical profession embraced diversity.

The diversification has occurred at pace and is in terms of ‘feminisation’ as well as reaching out across social classes. The change in acceptance in educational and social norms dictate that educational theory, learning styles and delivery methods are changed to accommodate the new medical generation.

This chapter will explore the need for professional trainers, the educational needs of the modern-day medical trainee and the challenges that need to be accommodated to ensure that the medical workforce retains a passion long into their careers.