Gender Discrimination Against Women in Surgery Is Due to Implicit Bias Rather Than Quantifiable Differences in...

Multiple publications have shown that there is gender-based discrimination in surgery, aimed against surgeons who are women. The authors theorize that it was not due to a difference in clinical competence, but due to implicit bias: a subconscious prejudice that traditionally assigned women to homemaker roles. The authors designed this study to determine whether gender discrimination was due to implicit bias or a quantifiable difference in clinical competence.

This questionnaire study investigated prevailing attitudes among a professional association of surgeons in the Anglophone Caribbean. The authors collected data on gender discrimination and 4 parameters as proxies for clinical competence: judgment, thoroughness, surgical skill, and task completion. The SPSS version 20 was used to perform statistical analyses.

A total of 140 questionnaires were distributed and 95 (68%) respondents observed gender discrimination in the workplace, with surgeons who are women significantly more likely to be victims of discrimination (64.2% vs 4.2%; z -8.7165; P < .0001). There was no difference between genders in clinical judgment nor surgical skill. There was a significant difference in thoroughness (47.4% vs 2.1%; P < .0001) and task completion (60% vs 24.2%; P < .0001), favoring surgeons who are women.

Gender discrimination is still prevalent in surgical disciplines as the second quarter of the 21st century begins. The authors have demonstrated that surgeons who are women are substantially more likely to be the victims, likely due to implicit gender bias. The surgical community must address this urgently, because impeding full participation by women creates the chance for undermining the expansion of the workforce needed for the next generations' surgical care.