For the first time in the UK, women slightly outnumber men on its register of licensed doctors.
As per General Medical Council (GMC), currently, 164,440 women hold a licence to practise, making up 50.04% of the register compared to 164,195 men.
The main reason for this shift is the increasing number of women entering medical schools in the UK, as per BBC.
However, the gender balance varies across different parts of the UK including England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
As per the outlet, since the 2018/19 academic year, more women than men have been enrolling in medical schools across all four UK nations.
When the medical register was first introduced in 1859, there were almost no female doctors and this remained the case for many years.
However, their numbers gradually increased in the early 20th century and grew rapidly from the 1970s onwards.
Today, Scotland and Northern Ireland have more female doctors than male doctors, while England and Wales still have fewer women in the profession.
As per GMC, more than half (57.7%) of general practitioners (GPs) in the UK are women.
Obstetrics and gynecology, which focus on women’s reproductive health and pediatrics which deals with children’s health have the highest number of female doctors.
On the other hand, fewer women work in surgery, ophthalmology (eye care) and emergency medicine.
