Requesting Help from Female Docs

[1stpost]

So this is my first post, I've been reading these boards for a long time now and just registered finally.
I'm posting because I have a report due for a class that involves critiquing the medical field in a sociological sense. I'm specifically focusing on gender and the female experience, from the perspective of the medical student/doctor. I arranged interviews with two med students and one attending physician, but they all were complete flops in that there was nothing really to write about. My paper proposal pretty much relies on the premise that I will be able to find both people who thought gender played a huge role in medicine and those who thought the field was fairly level. I was really only able to find the latter. Not one of the three had anything to say that was remarkable with respect to their gender and the treatment/experiences/biases they'd encountered within the medical field. If anyone (female) here could tell me about anything that's gender specific (it need not be negative) with respect to your medical education or medical experiences, it would be greatly appreciated. One anecdote, statistic or opinion would go far here.

thanks for all your help

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[gaslady]

Search through the threads on this forum as well as MomMD.com. You will find some threads about family, lifestyle and maybe even gender bais (on momMD)

 

[rehabmd]

My relative did an outside 2 week elective while she was a medical student at a well known hospital. At the end of her elective, the clerkship director called her into his office and asked her what she wanted to do about the attraction they have for each other. My relative was shocked and asked him what he meant by that. He said that she always was trying to impress him and it was obvious to him that she is attracted to him. My relative then told him the reason she was trying to impress him is bc she wanted a good letter of recommendation bc she wants to go into the specialty. Furthermore, she reminded him that he was married with kids and his wife is an attending at the hospital where he works. At that point he apologized and told her about all his marraige woes and told my relative he was relieved her elective was over bc her presence distracts him. My relative did not match at that program. Soon after he was promoted to program director of medical education even though the chair knew about this incident. I did my fellowship and then joined the faculty of this dept 7 years after the incident. WHen I mentioned this incident to the director a year after completing the fellowship, I suddenly had the chairman of the dept revoke my faculty appointment without contacting me based on whatever the program director told him I said. I ultimately met with the chair, had to apologize for my behavior toward the program director and was given my faculty appointment back but I realized that I am working in a boys club and I am always a disposable faculty member if I step out of line, but the boys in the boys club get to do anything they want and get rewarded for their behavior even when it is inappropriate. There are countless stories like mine out there.

 

[drvlad2004]

My relative did an outside 2 week elective while she was a medical student at a well known hospital. At the end of her elective, the clerkship director called her into his office and asked her what she wanted to do about the attraction they have for each other. My relative was shocked and asked him what he meant by that. He said that she always was trying to impress him and it was obvious to him that she is attracted to him. My relative then told him the reason she was trying to impress him is bc she wanted a good letter of recommendation bc she wants to go into the specialty. Furthermore, she reminded him that he was married with kids and his wife is an attending at the hospital where he works. At that point he apologized and told her about all his marraige woes and told my relative he was relieved her elective was over bc her presence distracts him. My relative did not match at that program. Soon after he was promoted to program director of medical education even though the chair knew about this incident. I did my fellowship and then joined the faculty of this dept 7 years after the incident. WHen I mentioned this incident to the director a year after completing the fellowship, I suddenly had the chairman of the dept revoke my faculty appointment without contacting me based on whatever the program director told him I said. I ultimately met with the chair, had to apologize for my behavior toward the program director and was given my faculty appointment back but I realized that I am working in a boys club and I am always a disposable faculty member if I step out of line, but the boys in the boys club get to do anything they want and get rewarded for their behavior even when it is inappropriate. There are countless stories like mine out there.

Oh my God!!

 

[MD08]

Hi-

You should read the book, Walking Out on the Boys, by Fran Conley. She is a female neurosurgeon at Stanford, and the book describes the sexism that she has endured as a female medical student, physician, and professor. Her experiences in academia are similar to what rehabmd was describing.

It is my opinion that most female physicians will experience some form of sexual harassment during their training. I am beginning medical school in the fall, and already I have experience in this area. While shadowing a (male) general surgeon as a pre-med, I was asked "What is your boyfriend's line of work?" This was followed by, "Oh, that is a great profession. You're pretty enough. Why don't you skip medical school and marry him?". During a medical school interview, a male (faculty) interviewer told me that I was attractive.

When things like this happen, it is demeaning. You feel that you are not being taken seriously, and it is not fair when you are attempting to learn/gain a letter of rec/new position, etc...