Women doctors don’t choose to leave work; they are forced out of their careers

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the women doctors of Pakistan. I was both surprised and humbled by the response.

People wrote in to say how it changed their perceptions of the profession and the place of women in it. Others pointed out errors and omissions.

By writing about women doctors, I only wanted to tell their stories, to understand their perspectives, and to hopefully start a conversation about the state of the medical profession in Pakistan and its gender dynamics.

What I did not expect was that it would lead to an introspection about how we read and perceive research, and what we think about women’s work.

There are three main things I would like to bring attention to in order to clarify the research around women doctors: The lack of data on women doctors, the misleading assumption that women have a choice in leaving work, and the definition of work itself.