The feminization of psychiatry? Some ruminations.

This article considers the position of women in psychiatry today from the historical perspective of feminism. Feminism in medicine demands the inclusion of the traditional priorities of women: collaboration and cooperation over competition and hierarchy, compassionate care over technology and automation, flexible care for the individual in a social context over the study of units of diseased organs. These themes, in addition to the care of women and children, were prominent in the lives of early women physicians and again in the 1970s and 1980s. The number of women in psychiatry has increased. However, their influence is scant and feminist goals are again submerged. At the same time psychiatry has become increasingly interested in the organ (brain) at the expense of the individual person. Women need a new awakening. They must use their new presence to assert feminine values in patient care and protect themselves from becoming provider units on the assembly line.