When I lived in New York City, I had to look hard for a good female Obstetrician-Gynecologist. It just seems that most of them are male. But when I came to China, the opposite seems to be true. Almost all the Ob-Gyns are female. There is a clear preference among Chinese women to see a female doctor for their more private medical needs; whereas in America, most of my American friends think it is completely normal to see a male Ob-Gyn.
Our pediatrician in China, who practiced in New York City for many years and whose husband is an obstetrician, explained to me why. In the United States, Ob-Gyns go through the entire process with a patient. He monitors the patient for the whole of her pregnancy and most likely delivers the baby, too. Therefore, he keeps a very exhausting schedule: seeing patients during the day, and being on call for deliveries at all times. Often deliveries seem to be in the middle of the night. The job is extremely demanding, physically and time intensive. It is very tough for a woman who is married and has children to keep that kind of working hours. This is why American obstetricians are predominantly male.
In China, however, obstetrics and gynecology are typically separate jobs. Obstetricians, furthermore, have regular shifts. The patients don't usually know who will be delivering their babies unless they have a scheduled caesarean. The combined factors of a less demanding schedule and the Chinese women's refusal to have a male doctor see their private areas result in China's female domination in Ob-Gyn medical practice.
It is an interesting observation that Chinese and Western men also have a different preference when it comes to massage therapists' gender. Most Chinese men don't mind a male therapist working on them. Some, in fact, prefer it because the male therapists have stronger hands. But most European and American men are very uncomfortable with male masseurs. Bryan, for one, thinks it is weird to have another man touching him when he is nearly naked. The owner of a massage parlor once told me that it is good to have a massage therapist who has a different gender than you. She believes that we all need to have our yins and yangs balanced by the opposite sex. A male therapist can restore the yang to a woman, and vice versa for the male customer.
(selected from 101 Stories for Foreigners to Understand Chinese People by Yi S. Ellis and Bryan D. Ellis, published by China Intercontinental Press in 2012)
