[Female physicians: work and family]

Abstract

One hundred female physicians were surveyed to describe features of their family, social and academic lives and obstetric history. Most outstanding findings were that 8% of women were divorced or separated, a trend to have few children and a mean day's work of 9.2 hour. Sixteen percent of women had a history of premature delivery and 22% premature labour symptoms (higher than the frequency found in the general population). Mean age at first childbirth was 26 years, significantly higher than the average of the general population (22.8 years). Prenatal leave was partially or not used by 50% of women, while postnatal leave was not benefitted by 12%. Breast feeding had a mean lapse of 3.8 months (shorter than advised). Sixty seven percent of women found scarce the length of time devoted to their children and 67% felt satisfied with their mate relationship. Fifty three percent performed 4 or more spare time activities a month and 55% declared to be satisfied with their professional performance. A mean of 0.89 scientific papers/year/woman were published or presented to meeting. Thirty percent believed that their professional work had a negative impact on their family life.