Doctors have started the #LikeALadyDoc hashtag in response to a newspaper column claiming that a rising number of female doctors is causing problems in the NHS.
Became confused mid Ortho op and tried to give myself a manicure. Then I cried. Blasted ovaries! #likealadydoc
The article, by Sunday Times columnist Dominic Lawson, refers to the "the feminisation of medicine" and its impact on the NHS.
He quotes Brian McKinstry, a former senior research fellow at the University of Edinburgh, who in 2008 warned that "fewer women than men choose to work out of hours, and the increase in women doctors may have partly influenced the recent abandonment of out-of-hours work by general practitioners in the UK".
@sarahwollaston What is your reaction to @thetimes blaming the troubles of the NHS on female docs? #likealadydoc
Junior doctor Roshana Mehdian told BuzzFeed News the article was "spreading misleading propaganda" about the proposed junior doctor contract.
"The issue with our contract is as simple as this: It is unsafe and lacks proper safeguards to prevent hospitals overworking doctors, which is dangerous for patients," Mehdian said.
Lawson's article conflated the junior doctors strike over an unsafe and unfair contract with an increase in female doctors in the workforce, which has no direct correlation, she added.
Mocking the article, Mehdian shared a selfie and her talent of being able to "scrub up both the dishes and for an operation".
I can scrub up 👉🏾 both the DISHES and for an OPERATION #likealadydoc @thetimes
Mehdian said the goal of the hashtag is to "ridicule Dominic Lawson's backward views and the conflation of female doctors and the junior contract".
Back home after an awfully tough medical on call - broke a nail :( (and a few hearts) #likealadydoc
Both male and female doctors are using the hashtag to show their dismay towards Lawson's "outdated and sexist" views.
"Women doctors are surgeons, physicians, leaders, college presidents, innovators and often mothers, sisters, daughters," Mehdian said. "To me, and to most people in this century, that is a cause for celebration and nothing else."
You'll have to excuse me @thetimes I've no intention of justifying my worth I know it. That's enough #likealadydoc
Middle of serious crisis in medical staffing & recruitment. What should we do? Put out sexist articles blaming it on women #likealadydoc
Dominic Lawson the 1950s called, they want their article back. #likeadydoc
Dominic, does my tinsel look straight in this? No? That'll be the 30mins CPR I just did. #likealadydoc @thetimes
My sparkly work pen because if I have to sign prescriptions with a nasty boys one I cry all day long #likealadydoc
Mehdian, who works as a trauma and orthopaedic surgery registrar, described the reaction towards the hashtag as very positive" and "supportive".
"We've had celebrities like Martin Sheen and Jon Snow support us. The public have been incredibly supportive also."
@doctor_oxford wait till Dominic Lawson finds a woman doctor at his bedside - he may finds he needs her!