Female presence at the teaching of the dentistry and medicine carrers at the national university of Córdoba

Abstract

Social stratification hased on gender has undouhtedly a powerful bearing en the division of labor in the arca of health. The presence of women has reached significant Ievels in the Teaching Departments at almost every Institution of Higher Education, although it has been observed that the higher the position, the fewer the women occupying such positions. The purpose of this work is lo analyze the evolution of admission and leaving of men and women students as well as the distribution of teaching positions according tú sex at the School of Dentistry and at Medical School of the National University of Cordoba. In addition, this study  amis at visualizing both the feminine role and the existence of posts in the field of education which are traditionally staffed by women, and also the factors contributing to define these positions. An analysis of the female participation in university education shows that in those programs of study where there is a predominance of female students, the proportion of women teachers is lower. It has also been noticed that the proportion of women working as teaching assistants is higher than that of women occupying leading posltions in the management of the Schools. By the year 2003, at theUniversltv of Cordoba, 43% of the teachers and 58% of the students enrolled were women. At the School of Dentistry there is a higher percentage( 10%) of female teachers, while at the School of Medicine the mate teaching staff is 19.3% higher. These data aliows us to infer that most probably, the differences observed in our analysis are the result of a heid belief that considers that Medicine helongs to men's domain and consequently, women medical doctors find it difficult to gain prestige and reach high-level, well paid positions.