Discrimination against women in the South African medical profession.

The paper examines discrimination against women in the medical profession in the South African context. To measure the extent of the problem data was obtained from the records of one of the largest South African medical schools--the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School. This medical school is one of the most liberal in South Africa and does not discriminate against women in its admission policies and the number of women graduated as doctors has increased steadily. Despite this, women take a secondary place in the South African medical profession. Evidence for this was collected from official records and supplemented with guided interviews with 15 women doctors. Special attention is given to the serious under-representation of Black women doctors in South Africa.