[Female professors in medicine in 2003: appointment, duties and family life].

Objective: To inventory (a) how and when female professors of medicine were appointed, (b) how they combined their work with family life, (c) which changes in health care female and male professors expected as a consequence of the increasing number of women physicians, and (d) which changes they wished to see for their successors.

Design: Descriptive.

Method: A questionnaire was used to collect data from the female professors of medicine who worked in the Netherlands as of 1 January 2003 (n = 43), and from the same number of male professors of medicine, who were matched for age and speciality.

Results: 39 women and 39 men responded (91%). The women were more often appointed after a closed application procedure (69 versus 51%). Two fifths of the women had a part-time appointment as professor, but they worked at least 45 hours per week. Women were more often present in educational committees than in selection committees. At the time of their appointment most women had no children (n = 16) or children who did not live at home (n = 7); the other 16 (41%) had children at home, as did 33 (85%) of the male professors. Over half of the 23 women with children were at home for at least 2 half-days per week when the children were young and in some cases the partners cared for the children full-time; the opposite was found among the 35 men with children. A quarter of both mothers and fathers was present for activities of their children, like soccer training and final swimming tests, during office hours. The most important recommendations regarding the appointment and the functioning of professors concerned the structure and flexibility of medical education, the carefulness when considering appointments, and the possibilities to work part-time and to have a family life.