Motherhood, Medicine, and Equality
Author: Reges A. Hansen, DO
Keywords: women in medicine, equality, female empowerment, parenting, women’s rights
I started medical school with a one-year-old, and I am ending it with three exceptional children under the age of five. We have survived brutal 80+ hour weeks, a pandemic, a move, a rigorous interview season, MATCH, and a plethora of tantrums (some of them mine). What did this experience teach me? It taught me that although women are generally accepted as equal, competent, and compassionate physicians, something about the role of motherhood negates our “equal-ness.”
I think this is best explained by some of the comments that I have received. “Are you hiding your pregnancy from residencies, because they will discriminate against you for that?” “Who is parenting your children?” “Shouldn’t you consider nursing so that you can be there for your children?” “You have young children and your husband is already a doctor. Why are you here?”
Let me be clear here. Those comments do not deserve a response, but I will answer the last one. I am here as a new psychiatry intern because I believe I will make a difference in the lives of the patients I serve. This will often be the same answer you will hear from my male and female colleagues. However, motherhood has changed me as a person in profound ways. My children have only deepened my compassion and understanding of suffering. It has also exponentially increased my capacity for patience and forgiveness. These are traits essential for work in all fields of medicine.
Motherhood has also brought to light that a phenomenon exists where women own their bodies and careers as long as children are not involved. All of our “equality” is thrown out the window when we are presented with two little lines. Now as we sit on the precipice of women losing fundamental rights over our own bodies, this conversation about who owns pregnancies and motherhood is still being argued about. As one woman who is balancing both a career and motherhood (and only able to do so with the support of my partner and family), there is only one answer: The person who is completely responsible for the outcome of those decisions
About the Author: Dr. Hansen is an incoming psychiatry resident and mother of three children. She is a graduate of Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Washington where she obtained her doctor of osteopathic medicine degree. Her undergraduate degree in psychology was completed at Old Dominion University in Virginia (Instagram: @RegesHansen).
