International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy: Volume 23 Issue 4/5

Health professions, gender and society: introduction and outlook

Birgit Blättel‐Mink, Ellen Kuhlmann

Changing market conditions, new modes of labour and decreasing legitimisation of experts, as well as an increasing ratio of women, pose new challenges to the professions. These…

The construction of professionalism in new and existing occupational contexts: promoting and facilitating occupational change

Julia Evetts

Professions, as a special (privileged) category of service‐sector occupations, are nowadays perceived as under threat from organizational, economic and political changes. Many of…

Continuity and change in the gender segregation of the medical profession in Britain and France

Rosemary Crompton, Nicky Le Feuvre

It is a well established fact that the entry of women into higher‐level professional occupations has not resulted in their equal distribution within these occupations. Indeed, the…

The career and work of pathologists: a gender perspective

Elianne Riska

This paper describes how Finnish women and men pathologists account for their career choices. Finland has a gender‐balanced medical profession, but pathology has of all…

Gender differences, gender hierarchies and professions: an embedded approach to the German dental profession

Ellen Kuhlmann

What part does gender play in professionalism? How does gender translate into hierarchies in professions? This paper attempts to deal with these questions and to move towards an…

Professional and domestic work arrangements of women general practitioners in France

Nathalie Lapeyre

Parallel to the increase in the number of women taking up medical careers, the reform of the 3rd cycle of medical studies in France has brought about some changes in professional…

Interprofessional education in maternity care: shared learning for women‐centred care

Kenda Crozier

There is a general agreement that the potential of shared learning is great in terms of interprofessional working and client care. Despite the fact that interprofessional…

Shifting boundaries and negotiations on knowledge: interprofessional conflicts between nurses and nursing assistants in Norway

Rannveig Dahle

This chapter deals with a long and intense conflict between nurses and nursing assistants within the context of the Norwegian health care system. Caring work is culturally coded…

Care for the elderly: welfare system, professionalisation and the question of inequality

Hildegard Theobald

Since the 1960s, the health system has seen the professionalisation of a new occupation, carer of the elderly. The form and result of this process differs between countries…