Thank you Lee, Wendy, Alison and Birgitta for the interesting discussion.
What in the my opinion must be addressed is:
(1) the need to question and change the culture of the profession and medical
institutions, so that women who do aspire to and attain high positions do not have to
behave like the boys to attain and retain those positions or suffer from burn-out in
trying to juggle between the demands of career and family.
(2) the importance of the development of men's capacities as carers - both in the
medical profession and within the family.
And as Alison says, these questions must be taken up primarily by the women in the
profession itself.

By the way these questions are not relevant only to the medical profession. They are
being raised in the Netherlands within the university community, by the Dutch
Association of Women's Studies (NGV), as believe it or not, most of the Dutch
universities do not have any women (or sometimes just one) on the Board of
Governors. Also, women form only 6% of university professors and only a small
percentage of this is women who are full professors. Most female professors in the
Netherlands occupy chairs as extraordinary professors for as little as one day a week
on a temporary basis. Many women do not make it even to the level of associate
professors as the Dutch university system does not even know of the tenure track
system and a woman can only be appointed as associate professor if such a position
is created. Another interesting detail (which is my own hypothesis) is that a majority
of women (full) professors either do not have children, or become professors only
towards the end of a university career when their children are adults. Also, a number
of them have a woman as a life partner.
I'm trying to find a student who will research this hypothesis. Also, personally I
wonder if I would not have been better off if I'd stayed on at Delhi University rather
than try my chances in ``emancipated'' Netherlands.
Best regards,
Jyotsna A. Gupta
Assistant Professor `Gender and Diversity
University for Humanistics
Utrecht
The Netherlands