On the margins: belonging in general practice for women part-timers and non-principals

If flexible working options are 'a good thing', this paper asks why there are still some anxieties about the full integration of women part-timers and non-principals into the profession. Using in-depth exploratory interviews with 25 women GPs, it argues that part of the discomfort with women GPs who work part-time in general practice arises from the fact that they occupy a marginal status between the (public) world of work and the (private) world of the family. Ambiguity is unsettling. A key question is where do their loyalties lie? 'Commitment' is both a practical fact and a symbol of more potent anxieties: it is a mobilizing metaphor. This paper also argues that the flexibility issue cannot be understood in isolation from wider social, economic and political changes taking place, both in the fast-changing role of women (and men) in society, and in and around general practice itself. Women part-timers are actively challenging some of the more negative stereotypes which still surround flexible working options. Being on the margins has advantages: change and creativity tend to occur here more than at the centre.