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In Great Britain, the rise of female doctors is a triumph worth celebrating amid pervasive gender inequality worldwide.
For the first time ever in the UK, female doctors now outnumber their male peers. Women now make up 50.04% of the nation’s registered doctors, a shift that coincides fittingly with International Women’s Day.
According to the General Medical Council (GMC), the number of women on its register has overtaken men for the very first time, with some 164,440 women registered with a license to practice, compared with 164,195 men. Though the numbers vary across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The milestone is the culmination of decades of progress in the medical industry, where women were once a rarity (when the GMC first opened in 1859 there were hardly any female doctors on record). But given the gender imbalances that persist worldwide, it might be worth holding your applause.
Gender pay gaps are still prevalent in the richest countries, so much so that they’re often accepted as unchangeable truths. The Economist reports that across the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, the median gender pay gap is stuck at 11.4%, up from a low of 11.1% in 2020, despite policies designed to shrink it.
Changes in the UK’s medical field are thought to be the result of record numbers of women joining medical schools. Specialities amongst women are largely obstetrics and gynaecology and pediatrics, while surgery, ophthalmology and emergency medicine have the least women.
76% of the NHS workforce are women – scientists, midwives, doctors, receptionists and more – all are shaping the future of healthcare.
This #InternationalWomensDay, thank you to the women leading, caring, and innovating across the NHS. pic.twitter.com/pwdmP3KxRe
— NHS England (@NHSEngland) March 8, 2025
This may account for the gender pay gap within medicine, which – as in other industries – remains stubbornly wide. According to a report from the British Medical Association (BMC), male doctors in the UK earn 15.3% more than their female counterparts on average. For hospital doctors, that divide jumps to 24.4%, and a whopping 33.5% for GPs. We’re not talking about small discrepancies here.
Women doctors are also more likely to take on part-time roles, often balancing childcare and domestic duties. While flexible working arrangements are crucial, they frequently come at a professional cost: fewer promotions, slower career progression, and a smaller presence in elite medical specialties.
Men continue to dominate top surgical fields and the upper echelons of hospital leadership. So while women might be winning in numbers, men are still disproportionately occupying positions of power and influence.
Leading female doctors have also warned of the oppressions repeatedly faced by women in the field, including sexual harassment, lack of childcare and inability to work flexibly when they have a child.
But these imbalances do more to highlight the immense achievements of women in the medical field than they do to undermine them.
‘In order to earn their rightful place within [medicine] women have endured bias, harassment, lower pay and often made huge sacrifices within their maternal and family lives. So this is indeed a day to celebrate,’ said Dr Claudia Paoloni, speaking on the news that female doctors have surpassed men in the UK.
For the first time ever the UK has more female than male doctors, with 164 440 women (50.04%) and 164 195 men (49.96%) registered with a licence to practise, show data from the GMChttps://t.co/lbKXDbZ7YR pic.twitter.com/7VB9cYpwo0
— The BMJ (@bmj_latest) March 7, 2025
