15 minute interview: The new president of the Medical Women's Federation
Bhupinder Sandhu
is the president of the Medical Women’s Federation. Combining a
career as a high flying professor of paediatric gastroenterology with
family life, she epitomises everything that the federation stands for.
Karen Hebert spent
15 minutes with her and found out all about smallpox, DIY, and her
involvement in the Medical Women’s Federation.
Describe yourself in five words
Committed, enthusiastic, driven, caring, and sociable.
What was your driving inspiration to medicine?
I wanted to be a doctor from an early age. I think that
decision was probably coloured by my experiences as a child in India. I
contracted smallpox but survived, whereas one of my classmates
didn’t. I remember her being taken past our house to the funeral
pyre. I was isolated for four weeks, and I think that was part of the spur
that inspired me to pursue medicine—the hope that one can use
one’s skills to save lives, improve health, and make a difference.
How do you manage to combine successfully your career
and family life?
I have been very fortunate: my husband and I seem to
get on, and in our 30 years together we have always shared the household
chores as well as the do-it-yourself (DIY) in a number of houses that we
have done up. But we have both had busy jobs—my husband in education
as a government inspector and myself in medicine. Consequently, when we did
have a family we ensured that the issue of childcare was well planned.
Being Indian, sharing childcare is part of my cultural norm. However,
opportunities for part time training for me were almost non-existent, and I
also felt that as a woman from an ethnic minority I had to have a better
curriculum vitae than the men to get a consultant post in a teaching
hospital. Neither of our parents lived close enough, nor were they really
of an age to be involved in an extended family household. So we arranged
initially for a full time live-in nanny for the children, and as they grew
older we changed to au pairs. The two nannies were superb and still keep in
touch. Looking back at that time, we do wonder how we managed to cram in as
much as we did.
Being married to a non-medic, do you think that medic
marriages are a good or bad idea?
I think marriage is a good idea, and I don’t
think it makes any difference whether it’s to a medic or a non-medic.
It might be easier being married to a non-medic than a medic because you
don’t have the conflict of rotas or career options. On the other
hand, those sorts of issues face most working partnerships. If there is a
key it’s supporting each other, sharing your goals, and trying to
achieve a sensible work-life balance.
What do you think are the specific challenges faced by
women as medics?
I think there are still some deep seated prejudices or
stereotypical perceptions that result in women not achieving in some fields
the profile of which they are capable. There are very few women in senior
clinical academic positions—for example, deans of medical schools. It
is most encouraging to see women now as presidents of the royal colleges
and the BMA. But women have been members of the club for a long time and it
has taken a long, long time to reach these prominent positions.
I also think that for women, most of whom want to have
a family, it’s still difficult to balance the demands of a medical
career with the demands of family life. We need more flexible training and
flexible careers, for both men and women in medicine. We need to ensure
that they make as full a contribution to patient care as they are able.
There is an unmet need for family friendly working practices for men and
women.
What are your views on the changing demography of
medical schools and the medical profession, and how do you envisage this
being dealt with in the future?
It is great that we’re attracting some of the
brightest talent in the United Kingdom into medicine. Their sex, at one
level, is immaterial. I certainly don’t think that having 60% of
women is going to downgrade the profession. Far from it—we know that
women make excellent doctors. They are good at communicating with their
patients and multitasking. However, leading, thinking, and having an
influence on policy is crucial and we have to ensure that women in medicine
have an increasing role in policy decision issues.
Both your daughters are training to be doctors. What
advice do you give them?
I’m delighted that my daughters have chosen to
follow a medical career, but it wasn’t my first choice for them. My
advice is to enjoy it, do it to the best of your ability, pursue your
interests in depth, and make sure you achieve a sensible balance between
working hard and playing hard.
What is your secret to success?
What success? There is a lot more to do.
Karen Hebert, fourth
year medical student,Bristol
Email: Kh9694@bristol.ac.uk
studentBMJ 2005;13:309-352 September ISSN 0966-6494
