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May 1, 2024 – Makenna was eager to get an appointment with a gynecologist after moving to a new city and getting what she thought might have been a yeast infection. Makenna, who asked to only be identified by her first name, settled on a male doctor who took her insurance, despite already feeling uncomfortable – as many women often are – with seeing a male gynecologist. 

What happened next left her bewildered and traumatized. Makenna, 28, said that during the exam, the doctor put on a pair of gloves, inserted his fingers into her, and then smelled them. After doing this, he told her she had bacterial vaginosis, not a yeast infection. She said there was barely any other dialogue or questions asked before this was done. 

She switched to a female gynecologist and didn’t turn back. 

Makenna isn’t alone. Many women prefer to see female doctors, for more than just gynecological issues. And studies done over the last several decades have shown that people – especially women – may have better health outcomes if they see a female doctor. 

The study, led by researchers from the University of California Los Angeles and the University of Tokyo, found that about 10.15% of men and 8.2% of women died while under the care of a female doctor, compared to 10.23% and 8.4% of patients treated by a male doctor. 

Atsushi Miyawaki, MD, PhD, one of the lead authors and an assistant professor of health services research at the University of Tokyo, also has some theories on why these results look the way they do.

“Female physicians may help alleviate embarrassment, discomfort, and sociocultural taboos during sensitive examinations and conversations while examining female patients,” she said.

But even the authors of the study note that, while still statistically significant, the data shows a very slim difference. Berenji said she takes the results with a grain of salt – and wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of her male colleagues do the same. 

“We’re seeing more and more of these types of papers coming out, so this is just opening the door further and trying to get to the crux of the issue because there’s clearly a trend here,” she said. 

It also makes sense that women tend to have better health outcomes after seeing a female doctor, given the accounts of female patients who have felt that their symptoms were dismissed or not taken seriously enough by male doctors. For instance, in some cases, women visiting ERs had to wait nearly 30% longer than men to be seen by a doctor when they had chest pains, and they were 25% less likely to receive strong pain medications after an ER visit due to sharp belly pains. 

Today, more and more women are becoming doctors, with recent estimates showing that they now make up more than half of medical school programs’ student bodies. And the number of female doctors has grown from 28% in 2007 to over 37% in 2021, data shows. Still, that number doesn’t yet reflect the gender demographics of our overall population. 

“At the societal level, we need to continue efforts to increase the number of female physicians, which can lead to better outcomes in women’s health,” said Miyawaki.