Moshref Rana, Moshref Leena, Rizk Hisham, Fayez Raad, Alotaibi Abdulrahman
Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdul-Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2020 Dec 19;61:48-53. doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2020.12.009. eCollection 2021 Jan.
Gender discrimination continues to be an issue in different surgical subspecialties, especially in Saudi Arabia, where no studies have been conducted so far on female surgeons in academia, on gender discrimination, and on job satisfaction. Considering the increasing number of women enrolling for surgery programs in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this study aims to examine their perceptions about and equity in working as surgeons.
Following the STROCSS criteria, cross-sectional analyses were conducted of survey data from a multicentric online questionnaire in 2019/2020. A representative sample of medical interns and surgeons (n = 100) from Saudi Arabia responded out of 400 from the 4th iteration.
Females were 53%; most participants were less than 40 years. Women ranked assistant professors were fewer than men (2% vs. 11%). The number of publications by females vs. males was 2.58 +/- 2.68 vs. 11.37 +/- 20.53 (p = 0.002). Surgery was not considered a profession conducive to family life according to more than half the women citing lack of flexible/part-time training or work (26/53, or 49%). However, only 1/5, or 9/47 (19.1%), of men thought there was gender attitude/bias; men also had more variety in surgical career choices. Further, most patients preferred male surgeons ( p = 0.026). Both females (30/53 or 56.6%) and males (25/47 or 53.2%) agreed that the best response to an offensive question was to ignore it. Decision in choosing their specialty was influenced mostly by career and promotion prospects, enthusiasm, and commitment (females: 31/53 or 58.5% and males: 17/47 or 36.2%) with p = 0.026.
The findings reveal the persisting discrepancies based on gender in the surgical field in Saudi Arabia. A nationwide movement limiting working hours, encouraging medical students to enter surgery, and upholding women in leadership positions can help in overcoming this situation.
性别歧视在不同的外科亚专业中仍然是一个问题，特别是在沙特阿拉伯，目前尚未有关于学术界女性外科医生、性别歧视和工作满意度的研究。鉴于沙特阿拉伯吉达市报名参加外科手术项目的女性人数不断增加，本研究旨在调查她们对从事外科医生工作的看法和公平性。
按照STROCSS标准，对2019/2020年多中心在线问卷的调查数据进行横断面分析。在第4轮调查的400名参与者中，来自沙特阿拉伯的100名医学实习生和外科医生的代表性样本做出了回应。
女性占53%；大多数参与者年龄小于40岁。女性助理教授的人数少于男性（2%对11%）。女性与男性的论文发表数量分别为2.58±2.68和11.37±20.53（p = 0.002）。超过一半的女性认为外科手术不是一个有利于家庭生活的职业，理由是缺乏灵活/兼职培训或工作（26/53，即49%）。然而，只有五分之一（即9/47，19.1%）的男性认为存在性别态度/偏见；男性在外科职业选择上也有更多样化。此外，大多数患者更喜欢男外科医生（p = 0.026）。女性（30/53，即56.6%）和男性（25/47，即53.2%）都认为对冒犯性问题的最佳回应是忽略它。选择专业的决定主要受职业和晋升前景、热情和投入程度的影响（女性：31/53，即58.5%；男性：17/47，即36.2%），p = 0.026。
研究结果揭示了沙特阿拉伯外科领域基于性别的持续差异。开展一项全国性运动，限制工作时间，鼓励医学生进入外科领域，并支持女性担任领导职务，有助于克服这种情况。
