Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic. XXXVII, 1973: The Psychological Advantages of the Woman Physician (1936). Pp. 333-340.

If we view all sick people as trying to destroy themselves while at the same time fighting to live, then physicians in opposing self-destruction may be seen as constantly involved in miniature wars between life and death. In this struggle, women may have some constitutional advantages over men because of their better understanding of suffering and inferiority. The inferior position that women occupy in our society sharpens their perceptions of the needs of those who suffer for reasons other than sexual difference. Only one who has suffered to an unusual degree has either the interest or ability to become a psychiatrist. In this sense, all women are eligible to become psychiatrists. Rather than striving to disprove allegations of inferiority, railing at discrimination, or imitating men, women ought to exploit their advantage. Some women physicians do not recognize that unconsciously men envy them no less than they envy men. Women can make immensely valuable contributions which they are especially fitted to make as a result of the training that most little girls receive in anticipating the wants of others, in tact, consideration, and charm.