Science. 

Does sexism still exist in medicine? In many cases, it depends on which side of the fence you’re on. The prevalent opinion among male medical professionals is that it does not, and that women have equal opportunities when it comes to education, medical positions and so forth, but if you’re a woman, you might tend to disagree.

Old-fashioned attitudes still rampant

The fact that sexism is still prevalent in numerous fields and industries, including medicine, is obvious by a recent comment made by Nobel laureate Tim Hunt. At the World Conference of Science Journalists in Seoul, South Korea, he blatantly commented that he himself preferred to work in “single-sex laboratories.” Why? In his words: “Let me tell you about my trouble with girls. Three things happen when they are in the lab: you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them they cry.”

Seriously? The Nobel Prize winner for medicine issued an apology shortly after, but the words were out there. He has since been “forced” (his words) to resign due to a public perception that his comments were sexist. He has since lost his position with the European Research Council Science Committee, his honorary post at London’s University College, and his role and position at the Royal Society.

He isn’t the first, and certainly won’t be the last to stick his foot in his mouth.  In 2005, Larry Summers, former president of Harvard, implied during a speech at a conference of the National Bureau of Economic Research, that female aptitude, commitment, and biology prevented many of them from succeeding in the “intense profession” and resulted in a lack of prominent women in the field of science today. He also intimated that due to biological differences, men consistently outperform women in sciences and math, and that discrimination is certainly not a barrier for females when it comes to careers in academia.

During his years as president of Harvard, tenured jobs for women decreased from 36% to 13%. In 2004, only four offers for tenure out of a total of 32 went to women.  Of course, the resulting backlash for his comments prompted Summers to apologize, but the fallout did prompt change. In 2009, 16 women and 25 men received tenure.  His successor as president of the university, Drew Faust, became its first female president.

It seems as if the “good old boys” club is alive and kicking.

Sexism in the medical profession

Attitudes, such as the ones exhibited by leaders in academia, emphasize the point that sexism is still prevalent in numerous industries, including medicine. Women have long complained about “bullying” perpetrated by male professionals in the medical field. This ‘bullying’ is prevalent around the world, not just the United States. In fact, one woman attending medical school was told, “…there’s no point teaching you how to suture, you’ll end up at home with the babies.”[1]

Women facing sexist attitudes in medical school and beyond, are also well aware of the repercussions when complaints or charges are filed with supervisors, much like kids reporting bullying at school. Sometimes, the reporting can lead to poor references, which can have a detrimental effect on one’s career. In fact, many complaints are met with platitudes and promises to “take care of it” or to “address the situation” but nothing is ever done.

Juliette Lee, M.D. of the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DC, and the recent recipient of the American Medical Association’s Joan F. Giambalvo Fund for the Advancement of Women, states, that while more women than men are entering academic medical fields, they do not advance at the same rate as their male counterparts. According to her research, some challenges remain, such as:

• Lack of leadership
• Inadequate mentorship
• Apprehension and discomfort when talking to superiors
• Difficulty meeting criteria for promotion
• Fear of “backlash” for complaints
• Unclear policies

According to Lee, “Even in 2014, sexism exists in medicine. It’s not as overt as in the past, but this undercurrent of gender inequality affects salary, benefits, career advancement, and satisfaction.”

According to a July 2014 article in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine[2], females are grossly underrepresented in medicine due to conscious and unconscious bias and discriminatory practices, especially in academic medicine. According to Professor Jonathan Grant, director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London, “There has been a long-standing gender imbalance in clinical academia as well as laboratory-based basic medical sciences. This inequality increases substantially with seniority, with women representing only 15% of professors in UK medical schools.”

Let’s talk earnings

According to Forbes, female physicians continue to earn less, sometimes, tens of thousands of dollars less than their male counterparts.[3] According to a study by the University of Michigan Health System, as well as Duke University, women tend to earn approximately $12,000 annually less than their male counterparts, despite similar education, experience, and other contributing factors. In fact, according to the study, over a career spanning three decades, a woman with the same qualifications who works the same hours as her male counterpart, may earn approximately $360,000 less than the man.

Some blame this gap on lack of women publishing in medical journal publications, work hours, and field of practice, while others blame it on the fact that motherhood takes a bite out of earnings. Unfortunately, even women without children earn less than their male counterparts.

Bottom line? Gender discrimination has, and will continue, to exist in the medical field, despite laws on the books against sex-based discrimination. Laws like Title VII and Title IX, that are promoted by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and that “forbid discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoffs, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.”[4]

Conclusion

Does sexism still exist in the medical profession? The answer is, yes. While women certainly have made great strides in the field of medicine and academia, there still is a gender gap. In a blog from 2013, Dr. Suzanne Coven cites an example from the editorial in the British Medical Journal, which states: “increasing numbers of women in medicine will ‘emasculate” the profession, rob it of influence, rigor, and fully committed professionals.”

Her response? “I heard something like that on a playground fifty years ago. I thought it was pretty dumb then, too.”[5]

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References

[1] www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-08/elms-sexism-in-the-medical-profession/65288

[2] http://jrs.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/03/19/0141076814528893.extract

[3] www.forbes.com/sites/katetaylor/2012/06/13/even-women-doctors-cant-escape-the-pay-gap/

[4] www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sex.cfm

[5] www.kevinmd.com/blog/2013/05/sexism-medicine.html