Women psychiatrists--Indian impetus
Ruksheda, S.N.
Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi 110(7): 554-557
2008
ISSN/ISBN: 0033-2658 PMID: 18833903 Document Number: 620768
Incredible India is a multicultural, multilingual, multifaceted, country of contradictions, where the women mental health professionals are participating in substantially increasing numbers. Evolving social, cultural and economical factors have facilitated the empowerment of women which is reflected in the health services. The contemporary Indian Woman Medical Professional is liberated, articulate and free. Remunerative employment has decreased economic vulnerability and dependence on men. Her decisions though, from choosing medicine as a vocation, opting for psychiatry, to specializing in a particular field are all coloured by class, caste, sex, region and religion. Cultural expectations and influences set norms for all in a society, dictating the behaviour and attitude of colleagues, superiors, patients, family and that of the psychiatrist herself. Egalitarianism, while on the rise, the long tradition of social hierarchies replicates themselves in professional arenas. An ever increasing number, women are still less than 10% of all Indian psychiatrists. Women psychiatrists continue to be underrepresented as policy makers in most psychiatric organizations and institutes. This article will discuss some of the experiences of the young Indian woman psychiatrist influencing her life architecture.