Abstract
Despite both the increasing female participation in the labour market and the progressive increase in the level of education of women, Portugal is one of the countries in the European Union in which income differences between men and women are most evident. Certain gender stereotypes remain obvious, which are clearly very much in line with the educational choices and, therefore, with the professional choices made by both men and women. Based on data regarding the distribution by gender in medical specialties, which was published by the Portuguese Medical Chamber/ Portuguese Medical College of Physicians in 2015, the Distribution Index was applied. This analysis made it possible to show that, in addition to the fact that women are concentrated in a narrower range of medical specialties than men, they tend to choose specialties that constitute an extension of some social roles associated with both childcare and maternity, as well as an extension of domestic tasks.
Keywords: Gender segregation, gender stereotypes, medical specialties, Portugal