The AMA challenged the medical profession and governments to change how they support parents in medical training on International Women's Day by releasing the AMA Position Statement on Medical parents and prevocational and vocational training 2020.
"Within the medical profession, there remains an entrenched culture that women will assume child-rearing responsibilities.
"As a profession, we need to ensure women have safe and encouraging workplaces and rewarding careers as doctors by supporting parental leave among a suite of other measures." Said Dr McArdle Chair of the AMA Equity Inclusion and Diversity Committee.
The AMA is calling on governments to commit to and work with the medical profession to support parents in medical training by providing funding to increase access to:
- equal and reasonable paid parental and carers leave entitlements for each parent to empower men to seek an equal share of the parenting responsibility;
- flexible work arrangements for each parent, so that women can participate in the workforce without comparative disadvantage;
- domestic and family violence support (including ten days paid leave); and
- flexible and affordable childcare so that parents can return to the workplace.
AMA's Position Statement on Medical parents and prevocational and vocational training provides guidance on strategies to support parenting alongside medical training to promote gender equity in all aspects of medicine and is available here - https://ama.com.au/articles/medical-parents-and-prevocational-and-vocational-training
