You never hear of a “man nurse” or a “man daycare worker.”

Using “woman” as an adjective puts ungrammatical emphasis on her sex and makes an issue of it — which is she more — a woman or a physician?

Dr. Jones was an educated person, a physician who happened to be female. She worked to become a doctor; her gender was an accident of birth.

I know that everyone uses “woman” without recognizing what it conveys — but think again — a male nurse is given credit for his training and his gender is one facet of his existence, a “man nurse” sounds awkward because it combines two nouns and sets up a tussle between them.