As I've already mentioned in a posting that I made previously on this topic, men are now approaching the 40 % mark in attendance at medical schools Canada-wide. I knew that the reason men were disappearing was linked to discriminatory screening policies years ago when I was purusing the University of Calgary's website. The university was slathering and slobbering as it patted itself on the back for exceeding the self-imposed quota on the medicine program: they had exceeded the 50% by gender mark of women, with 52% of the medical program women by gender. Hurray for Quotas!

This article reveals the discrimination taking place over a decade ago, and goes a long way to explaining the current 60:40 trend - a trend so mysterious in its origins that the media, universities and even the Canadian Medical Association, have no idea how it could be happening... Spooky!

(Source: University of Waterloo Gazette, November 1994) Women have a better chance than men of getting intomedical school, says a study done for the Association ofCanadian Medical Colleges. The author of the study, Eva Ryten, director ofresearch at the association, presented evidence hinting atdiscrimination against men. Her findings indicate thatadmission for students does not rely just on MedicalCollege Admission Test scores. "The numbers show enormous variations in theopportunity for a medical career for Canadians depending onwhere they live or whether they are male or female," saysthe report. "Medical schools have little direct influence on thesize of provincial applicant pools or on the number ofmedical school places they provide, which in recent yearshas been decided almost exclusively by provincialgovernments. However, medical schools do decide the selection criteria they use to pick the individuals who will beoffered admission out of those who apply." The study found that whether you're male or female,and where you live, make a big difference. Men who scoredhigh on the standard medical school admission test wererejected at a much higher rate than women with comparablescores - more than 70 per cent of rejected all-round highperforming applicants were men. For men, only 46 per centof high performers were offered admission in 1993-94, while58 per cent of female high performers were offeredadmission. An applicant's province of residence also appears tomake a difference in determining whether one can reasonablyexpect to gain admission to a medical school. The successrate - the proportion of applicants offered admission -varies from province to province. Nationally, 21.7 per centof applicants were successful that year, but the successrate was as low as 17.8 per cent for residents of QuŽbecand as high as 41.1 per cent for residents of NewBrunswick. Says the report: "If MCAT is used in selection (andeven if it is not) we would expect that irrespective ofplace of residence or sex (or other variables not examinedhere), people in the high performance group would be chosenbefore people in the middle or low performance group.Indeed, we would not ordinarily expect applicants from thelow performance group to be selected when there is a supplyof high or middle performing candidates to choose from." But the numbers show that the reality is different. "If selection had proceeded strictly from the topdown, of candidates who had written MCAT, approximately 63per cent of those chosen would have been men, 37 per centwomen, because of the better performance of men. However,of those candidates who submitted MCAT scores, 53 per centof those who were successful were men and 47 per centwomen. This is an enormous advantage in favour of women. "Although part of this advantage may be due tointerview and similar assessments, such considerationscannot come close to explaining the huge differentialsreported in these statistics." About half of high performing applicants were notoffered admission, yet 549 middle level performers and 136low performers received at least one offer of admission.Far lower proportions of the middle and low-scoring groupswere offered admission, but at all three levels women hadhigher success rates than men. The report concludes, "Unequal distribution of medicalschool places across Canada, large differences inapplication rates to medical schools by residents ofdifferent parts of Canada, and selection policies thatfavour women all contribute to increasing disparities inthe chance for a medical career for Canadians fromdifferent parts of Canada. "About much of this medical schools can do little inthe short run; however, they can examine how selectionpolicies work not just in theory, but in practice to seewhether some modifications need to be made." A first response to the report came from Dr. ArnieAberman, dean of medicine at the University of Toronto: "Weevaluate all students on their own merits, on academic andnon-academic factors, and no additional benefit is given toeither women or men."Right... And equity isn't about discrimination, it's just if you're white and male, you're time would be better spent filling out a crossword puzzle than an application. Thanks for lying through your teeth.