Women's Motivation to Become Dentists in Brazil

Abstract

There has been a marked increase of women in dentistry in Brazil and in many countries around the world. The behavioral mechanisms behind the choice of career differ between men and women, and the inclination to care for others is thought by some to be more present in women than it is in men. This article discusses the reasons that lead women to choose dentistry as a profession in Brazil and the impact of feminization on the current and future proile of the profession, based on the ethics of care. The authors' review of the relevant literature published between 2000 and 2011, primarily in Brazil, suggests that whereas men have tended to choose dentistry as a good business opportunity, women have tended to base their decision on relations with other people and the lexibility of practicing the profession. Many women dentists have been found to decide to work fewer hours, report more interruptions in their activities, and have less preference to work in private practice than men dentists. In the view of service users and dental auxiliaries in Brazil, women dentists invest more time in their patients and communicate in a more pleasant, sensitive, and friendly manner. The conclusion suggests that characteristics often associated with women can affect the dental profession in Brazil by introducing greater concern with the promotion of health and other people's well-being in contrast to traditional dentistry based on curative procedures.Ms. Kfouri is Professor,

Motivation and Career Perceptions of Dental Students at the School of Dental Medicine University of Zagreb, Croatia

“…As presented, there is a huge difference between the number of male and female students -with male to female ratio of 1:4. The feminization of dentistry has been noticed in other countries as well (9,11,14,15). As one of the most important motivational factors, the female respondents highlighted helping people, which is in line with the results from the study conducted in several public dental schools in the United States (10).…”

“…Kao što je prikazano, postoji golema razlika između broja studenata i studentica -s muško-ženskim omjerom 1:4. Feminizacija stomatologije uočena je i u drugim zemljama (9,11,14,15). Kao jedan od najvažnijih motivacijskih čimbenika sudionice su izdvojile pomaganje ljudima, što se slaže s rezultatima istraživanja provedenog na nekoliko javnih fakulteta stomatologije u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama (10).…”

The feminization of dentistry and the perceptions of public service users about gender issues in oral health

“…It is true that when the answers to the questions relating to care in this study are analyzed separately, it can be seen that those users who prefer to be cared for by women dentists take into consideration active listening and care provided to the patient. This observation suggests a relationship with studies showing that female dentists value working with people and conversing with patients, choosing these qualities as being very important in their professional practice 5,31 .…”

“…This result is in keeping with another finding in the literature, in which the social belief was found that women have personal characteris-tics more favorable to practicing Dentistry 26 . The female gender is related to the expressions "attentive", "caring", "delicate", "patient", whereas men are associated with the expressions "secure", "careful", "strong" 5,27 . More important than the professional's sex characteristics are their ability to communicate and dialogue, as these favor a good relationship between the professional and the patient 27 .…”

“…The increase in the number of women working in health professions is a phenomenon that occurs in several countries 1,2 . Women progressively engaged in occupational positions that were considered mostly designed to male dominance a few decades ago 3 , as is the case of Dentistry 4,5 . The reasons for this change are many, for example, the insertion of women in the labor market is strongly accentuated from the 1960s onwards, with the struggle of feminist movements and later on as a profession achievement.…”