Female General Practitioners In Rural And Remote Communities

Female General Practitioners In Rural And Remote Communities - Are current incentives programs gender neutral or gender blind?

Noela Lippert

Between September 2000 and May 2001, 114 female GPs in rural and remote communities were interviewed as part of the National Female Rural GP Research Project. This project was undertaken by the University of Newcastle with the support of a Female Rural GP Working Party established under General Practice Partnership Advisory Council (GPPAC).

Key findings of the research were that existing strategies and incentives supported an essentially masculine model of practice, based on the full-time procedural skilled male GP with a supporting spouse. This model was considered largely irrelevant to the practice reality of the majority of female rural GPs interviewed. To make rural and remote practice more attractive to younger female GPs, existing strategies and incentives need to be modified or new ones introduced. Strategies suggested by the female GPs interviewed emphasised the need for specific attention in relation to

issues of social and professional isolation;
valuing of their working styles and practice arrangements;
greater flexibility in practice and training arrangements;
better access to leadership and decision making processes within the profession; and
support for them in their multiple roles as parent, partner and doctor.

The richness and depth of the interview data collected has provided the opportunity to examine the nature of assumptions about gender and gender roles that inform current policies and programs and how these assumptions can be challenged in order to develop more sustainable models of rural practice.

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