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WOMEN IN HEALTH PROFESSIONS SCHOOLS
Health professions have long been characterized by sex
disparities. In the past, males dominated medical, dental,
and pharmaceutical
schools, while women made up the majority of nursing
and public health students. During the past two decades,
the enrollment of women in medical, dental, pharmacy,
and public health schools has increased considerably.
For example, female dental students grew from 17.0
percent of total enrollment to 38.7 percent between 1980-1981
and 2000-2001. The percentage of medical students who
were women also increased dramatically over this same
period. In 1980-1981, females accounted for slightly
more than one quarter of medical students; by 2000-2001,
this proportion had increased to 44.6 percent. Women
outnumbered men in U.S. schools of pharmacy and public
health in 2000-2001.
As women have increased their representation in health
professional schools that have traditionally been dominated
by men, their
concentration has decreased in nursing, a field that has
been and continues to be made up almost entirely of women.
While the numbers of students enrolled in nursing schools
increased over the past two decades, the percentage of
nursing students who were women declined from 94.3 percent
in 1980-1981
to 90.3 in 2000-2001, reflecting men's increasing role
in the nursing profession.
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