A bit more Pomfrey (was Gender balance/strong women Madam Pomfrey in particular)

[Schlobin at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 15073

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Amanda Lewanski <editor at t...> wrote:
> "Alexandra Y. Kwan" wrote:
> 
> > The stereotype has always been that the doctors are
> > male and nurses female, because doctors are seen as
> > more important than nurses.
> 
> No, the stereotype has been that way because until recently, the 
doctors
> *were* mostly male and the nurses *were* mostly female. The 
perception
> grew from the stereotype, not vice versa.
> 
> >  Although a school
> > presumably doesn't need a doctor, by having the school
> > nurse as female, the book is conforming to stereotypes
> > that had been in our culture for at least half a
> > century.
> 
> I think it might simply be that when the medical director at a 
school is
> female, she'll tend to be called "school nurse." Pomfrey does
> significantly more than your average school nurse. Most schools 
don't
> have entire hospital wings. Most school nurses don't spit fire the 
way
> she does--she's nothing less than didactic on her own turf--quite a
> strong woman indeed, when she's speaking as a professional in her 
field.
> 
> And in the in-many-ways-quite-archaic world of wizards, "doctor" 
might
> still be a term that is not medical. Or never used at all, since 
they do
> not seem to have an educational system after Hogwarts. We call 
doctors
> doctors because that's the title they get from their institutions 
after
> advanced study. Any Ph.D. or J.D. is a doctorate. It's an 
educational
> level, and the wizarding world thus far has not exhibited comparable
> further formal education levels.
> 
> In fact, the wizarding world reminds me strongly (in the matter of
> research and inquiry and "experts") of the great 'age of 
naturalists,'
> the late eighteenth to late nineteenth centuries, when the 
contributions
> of self-educated laymen were vital to several disciplines.
> 
> --Amanda
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


Sorry, no.

The history of the medical profession is long ago, wise women were 
healers. 

Doctors came along and took over. Until recently (30 years ago) 95% 
of doctors were men. Women who were interested in being health care 
professionals got slotted into the nursing profession..which in 
itself is great and wonderful.

Today at the University of Michigan Medical School, they are 
congratulating themselves because 20 - 25% of their students are 
women.
More than 50% are the children and grandchildren of physicians.

Susan
were slotted to being nurses.