13 Nov Different Perceptions of Gender Equity Among Men and Women in Academic Medicine

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Ruzycki

Shannon Ruzycki, MD, MPH, FRCPC, (she/hers)
General Internist & Clinical Lecturer
Department of Medicine
Department of Community Health Sciences
Cumming School of Medicine
University of Calgary

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: After hearing about the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine 2018 report to congress on sexual harassment of women in academia, our Department Head asked myself and Dr. Aleem Bharwani to study experiences of gender inequity or equity in our Department.

We conducted an in-depth, 18-month mixed methods study of women and men in our Department, including semi-structured interviews and survey.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?

Response: We found that there were important differences on how men in our Department perceived gender equity and how women in our Department experienced gender inequity.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report? 

Response: There is a demographic gap in how physicians perceive and experience gender-based disparities. Senior men physicians more commonly perceive that we have achieved gender equity while junior women physicians report commonly experience inequities and inequalities. 

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Response: Reducing gender-based disparities in medicine should focus on interventions that close the gap between what leaders and decision-makers in medicine view about equity and how women physicians experience their workplace. Further, qualitative and quantitative research must explore the experiences of intersectionality and other groups of marginalized physicians. 

MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Response: Our study focused on men and women physicians and we had no openly non-binary, gender non-conforming or transgender physicians.

We did not collect data on intersectionality, and we expect that physicians with multiple axes of marginalization will have different experiences.

Citation:

Ruzycki SM, Freeman G, Bharwani A, Brown A. Association of Physician Characteristics With Perceptions and Experiences of Gender Equity in an Academic Internal Medicine Department. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(11):e1915165. doi:https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.15165

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Last Updated on November 13, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD