The Royal College of Physicians report, “Women and medicine: the future”, dominated both the Lancet and the BMJ last week, allaying several common misconceptions about medicine in the UK. Firstly, women are not “taking over medical schools”, with about 57% of medical school places filled by women [1, 2]. “Neither are men disappearing from medical schools; in fact, 50% more medical students were admitted in 2007 than 10 years earlier [2].” Secondly, there is no evidence that women are more likely to leave medicine than men. Thirdly, it is more likely that women are not achieving consultant jobs in specialties such as surgery due to part-time training and an active decision to pursue specialties such as general practice and public health, rather than sexism per se. However, women are hugely under-represented in management and senior research positions.