In Belarus, restricted the access of girls to medical universities

Belarus appears to have followed directly the recommendation of Russian Health Minister Murashko, who recently declared women’s higher education to be a “perverse practice.”

In the fraternal republic, this was perceived as a guide to action. Access to higher education, in particular, medical education in the specialty of a surgeon and an anesthesiologist, is limited here from this year for the weaker sex.

Quotas for gender representation have been introduced. This order was issued by the Ministry of Health of the Republic. Starting this year, the number of places in subordination will be determined separately for men and separately for women.

The distribution of places by gender, according to the Belarusian media, is as follows: for example, in the Gomel Medical University there are 5 women’s places out of 45 for anesthesiology and resuscitation, and 13 out of 70 for surgery.

In the Vitebsk medical university, 10 out of 50 quotas are allocated for anesthesiology for women, and 30 out of 80 for surgery. “This law openly violates several articles of the Belarusian Constitution at once, it discriminates against women in the world of work,” international lawyers say.

However, for the sake of this, they did not begin to rewrite the Basic Law in the republic. They decided, apparently, that it would do.

Belarusian officials themselves, in confidential conversations, are reluctant to explain that it is exactly the opposite of what our Murashko said: state funds are spent in vain, because Belarusians do not go to work after graduation, but get married and give birth. So it makes sense to spend money on them, and even when preparing for such complex specialties?

“A man should be a man and a woman should be a woman. And not a family – one parent, one … We carry out our personnel policy, ”Olga Kolyupanova, head of the personnel policy department of the Ministry of Health, has already quoted our president to Belarusian journalists, justifying the issued order on gender inequality.

What does higher education for women and parent number 1 and number 2 have to do with it? In the conversation, the clerk swears that surgical specialties are exclusively for men. They cut better.

Several scientific studies in recent years have shown a correlation between the gender of the doctor and the results of the treatment of female patients, but the opposite is true: patients of female surgeons experience less treatment complications and recover faster. And in the treatment of men – by men, the gender of the doctor did not affect the outcome in any way.

But since the studies are all entirely Western, in Belarus they do not believe in them.

“Yes, we have always had our oddities in Belarus,” says Yana, a graduate of a medical university who received Russian citizenship and has been working in Russia for a long time. – When I entered, for example, there was a ban on accepting urban graduates for medical specialties, they took only from the villages. The authorities expected that after graduation they would return to their place and solve the personnel problem. In the villages of Belarus, indeed, there are not enough medical workers, in fact, as in Russia too. I myself am from Minsk, the competition that year was the most severe, I entered, and what was the result – the village girls got married and stayed in the city.

After the events of August 2020, specialists with higher education leave Belarus in search of a better life. They believe that “it is useless to wait for changes.” Especially many doctors leave, including to Europe, where a diploma from a Belarusian medical school can come in handy.

“This is true. It is impossible for us to pass exams for a bribe – only by ourselves, so knowledge is hammered in firmly. Therefore, tutors of specialized German and English are now in great demand, who help to learn medical terminology for further confirmation of the diploma. There was such a media heroine Daria Chekhova, who worked in the Minsk hospital during the coronavirus, and now confirmed her Belarusian diploma in US residency, passed one of the most difficult exams. But many go just to Russia – it’s easier and faster, ”continues my interlocutor. She believes that the decision to restrict girls’ access to a number of medical specialties is also connected with this, so as not to train personnel for abroad. As if a male surgeon couldn’t emigrate.

However, the Belarusian doctors themselves, who stayed at home, are more likely for the introduction of gender inequality and fully support the authorities. “Imagine a worker who leaves on one decree, then on the second, on the third. 9 years on maternity leave after high school. But she was prepared for such a jewelry specialty. It turns out the money wasted. Very cool, ”- an excerpt from the dialogue of a professional chat of health workers.

While other countries are introducing reverse quotas to make it easier for women to receive higher education and remove the “glass ceiling”, in Belarus, on the contrary, they are increasing the list of professions that are inaccessible to women.

Not Afghanistan, but already somewhere in that direction. Murashko now has someone to set as an example for all of us.