Hierarchical System in Medicine
Hierarchical System in Medicine [1]
In order to counter this problem, the medical community needs to address the hierarchal system in medicine that is pushing women out of leadership positions and putting more men in these positions. According to a Beakley in Patient-Centered Medicine in Transition “While more women than men—52 % of all Year 1 junior doctors (interns)—show a career interest in surgery, by post-registration Year 2 (residents), this figure halves to 25 % and drops again to 15 % of surgical specialist registrars, culminating in women constituting only 6 % of the body of consultant surgeons.” [2]. This shows that there is a decline in women in high positions or leadership positions in medicine as they get older.
This is due to the structural problems that give more mentorship and rewards to men more than women. This can be attributed to the hierarchical system that is built into medicine and the implicit bias that comes along with it against women. This can be seen in almost every area in medicine, “ For example, proportionately: less women doctors than men gain senior positions, women doctors constitute the minority of medical teachers, women are less often employed in hospitals, and, on average, as noted above, women doctors work an equivalent of 85 % of the workload of male doctors” [3]. This can be seen in the policies and programs that are put in medicine that tend to favor men more than women, such as paternity leave which is given for generally 6 to 8 weeks, however, uptake of leave remained low because of poor compensation, restrictive gender norms, and cultural expectations [4]. Not only are women working harder than men and not getting promotions, women are also more aware of these gender inequalities than men.
[1] Justintimeprod. 2019. “Tips for Job Hunters in the Medical Field - Just in Time Staffing.” Just in
Time Staffing. July 25, 2019. https://justintimestaffing.com/tips-for-job-hunters-in-the-medical-field/.
[2]Bleakley, Alan. “Gender Matters in Medical Education.” Advances in Medical Education,
111-26. Springer, Cham, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02487-5_9.
[3] Bleakley, "Gender Matters", 111-26
[4] Shannon, Geordan, Melanie Jansen, Kate Williams, Carlos Cáceres, Angelica Motta, Aloyce
Odhiambo, Alie Eleveld, and Jenevieve Mannell. “Gender Equality in Science, Medicine, and Global Health: Where Are We at and Why Does It Matter?” The Lancet 393, no. 10171 (February 2019): 560–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(18)33135-0.