Although the question of whether women generally prefer female obstetricians and gynaecologists has been long debated, new research suggests that, to most women, gender is not an issue. Researchers at the Michigan State University in East Lansing, USA based their findings on surveys of 1,059 obstetrics and gynaecology patients and 72 physicians. Only 23 percent of patients had chosen their current obstetrician or gynaecologist because she was female, and only four percent had chosen their doctor because he was male. For 73 percent of women gender of their obstetrician or gynaecologist made no difference. Also women appear to be equally unlikely to prefer a female doctor when the speciality is family practice or surgery. Patients who reported they preferred female obstetricians and gynaecologists thought that finding a doctor who 'understands women' was much more important than women who preferred men or had no gender preference. And women who preferred female obstetricians and gynaecologists did not show a similar preference for female family doctors or surgeons. In other differences seen among specialties, women tended to rank the characteristic of 'expert in my problem' as more important for an obstetrician or gynaecologist than a family doctor. In contrast, they believed that being 'easy to talk to' and having a 'good reputation with friends and family' was more important in family doctors than in obstetricians and gynaecologists. Qualities more valued in a surgeon than in an obstetrician or gynaecologist included 'expert in my problem,' 'business-like and efficient,' 'nonemotional,' and 'provides a lot of information.' Women tended to rank gender as the least important characteristic they use when selecting a gynaecologist, obstetrician, family doctor or surgeon. Instead, they cited traits related to communication as most important in their decisions. They generally ranked expertise and reputation as moderately important when choosing an obstetrician or gynaecologist. It might be interesting to conduct a similar survey in India, where most of the obstetricians and gynaecologists in north India are females but there are relatively more male gynaecologists and obstetricians in southern India, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Annual meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, April 2003;