Abstract
In autumn 1977 91% of the women who had graduated from United Kingdom medical schools in 1949-51 (early cohort) and 1965 (late cohort) were practising medicine. Over the first 12 years after qualification the late cohort was marginally more active in medicine and had more members in career and training posts than the early cohort. On the survey date 1 October 1977 (26-28 years after qualification) the participation index of the early cohort was 0.73 and of the late cohort (12 years) 0.65. Both cohorts show the bimodal career pattern characteristic of British women's occupational experience.