The nature of the barefoot doctor system also allowed women to enter a profession that had previously been dominated by men. Fang (2012) explains that, due to tradition, many females felt uncomfortable being examined by male doctors, and, as a result, silently suffered from a host of diseases, especially gynecological ones. However, the barefoot doctor system required that each village have a female doctor. With this push, women's health improved significantly, although Fang (2012) mentions that health disparities were still present.