Working time directive in an all female specialty.

Oman is not the only country where obstetrics and gynecology is a specialty dominated by female doctors, the trend is the same even in the west. Gerber and Sassao reported that as the proportion of men entering obstetrics and gynecology residency programs declined, the number of women entering general obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) was declining at an even more “dramatic rate”.1 Men graduating from internal medicine residency programs demonstrated no change according to the same authors. The number of women entering OBGYN residencies increased from 16% in 1975 to 73% in 2002 according to accreditation Council for Graduate medical education reports.2 A study by Schnuth et al. revealed that male medical students viewed their gender as a negative factor in pursuing obstetrics and gynecology and they might be persuaded not to enter obstetrics and gynecology by their female peers.2 Female medical students believed that women make better obstetricians and gynecologists than men. Curtis in 2001 wrote a guest editorial on discrimination against men joining the OBGYN specialty.3 The opinion on whether female patients prefer female obstetricians and gynecologists is divided. There are a few studies to suggest that female patients do not have gender preference for physicians but one study from Syria mentioned that women preferred to be delivered by female doctors.4,5,6