Dialogue Volume 15 Issue 1 2019 | Page 23

DEMOGRAPHICS Women in Medicine Women to outnumber men by 2030 T he number of female physicians will outnumber their male counterparts by 2030, projects a College report that has ana- lyzed physician demographics in Ontario. Assuming that current system and growth levels remain constant over time, the re- port projects that a gradual decline in male physicians with a concomitant increase in female physicians means there will be equal numbers of men and women in the Col- lege membership by 2029, and subsequent increases in the physician population will be lead by female physicians. “In the practice of medicine, you could say that the only constant has been change,” said Dr. Nancy Whitmore, College Registrar/ CEO. “This shift from a profession over- whelmingly dominated by men to one where the majority of practitioners will be women is another example. As physicians, we must be nimble, to the changes brought by scien- tific advancement and to social change. That adaptability is part of the art of medicine,” she said. In fact, the changing demographic is re- flected in the College’s leadership. In 2018, Dr. Whitmore became the College’s first female Registrar/CEO, Dr. Brenda Copps is the College’s current Vice-President and late last year, Dr. Sheila Laredo was named as the College’s Chief Medical Advisor. The College’s report uses 18 years of data, with the projections based on membership numbers drawn from the years 2009 to 2018. The purpose of this report is to docu- ment physician demographics and practice changes over time to better predict what the face of medicine will look like over the next 20 years. ISSUE 1, 2019 DIALOGUE 23