Ali Rabia, Sohail Rabia
Department of Sociology, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Leadersh Health Serv (Bradf Engl). 2022 Apr 26;ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print). doi: 10.1108/LHS-09-2021-0082.
Surgery is predominantly a masculine profession worldwide and has largely excluded women in leadership positions. This paper aims to examine the representation of women surgeons in leadership positions in Pakistan.
DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Data were drawn from larger qualitative research examining the experiences of women surgeons in Pakistani hospitals. The data comprises in-depth interviews with ten doctors working in the Rawalpindi and Islamabad cities. The participants were selected by using the purposive sampling method and data were analyzed using thematic analysis.
This study included participants from diverse surgical specialties from different stages of their career with two having leadership experience. Based on participants' perspectives several factors are responsible for this exclusion of women in leadership positions. The most prominent among these were long working hours for surgical leaders, greater responsibilities assigned to leadership positions, gender stereotypes and work-family conflict. Due to masculine hegemony, women were considered less capable and they were expected to have masculine traits to work as successful leaders. Interestingly, some participants had internalized such stereotypes and showed a lack of interest and lack of capabilities for surgical leadership as evident from their narratives.
RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: The findings of this paper are drawn from the perspectives of ten women surgeons working in Islamabad and Rawalpindi cities of Pakistan who were selected using a convenient sampling method. Hence, the results cannot be generalized to the larger population of women surgeons working in other cities of the country. Nevertheless, this study is unique in the sense that it provides useful insight into the experiences of the women surgeons and their perspectives on surgical leadership in Pakistani hospitals. Academically, it contributes to the global debates on surgical leadership by providing empirical evidence from Pakistan.
ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This paper contributes to the larger debates on the under-representation of women in leadership positions in surgery by unveiling the experiences of female surgeons from Pakistan. It calls for the need for structural changes in health management and policy to accommodate women surgeons. Organizational efforts could minimize some hurdles and encourage more women to take on more formal leadership roles. The authors also call for an increasing number of women in surgery to pave the way for creating new leadership opportunities.
在全球范围内，外科手术领域主要是男性主导的职业，女性在领导岗位上基本被排除在外。本文旨在研究巴基斯坦女性外科医生在领导岗位上的代表性情况。
设计/方法/途径：数据来自一项规模更大的定性研究，该研究考察了巴基斯坦医院中女性外科医生的经历。数据包括对拉瓦尔品第和伊斯兰堡两市的10名医生进行的深入访谈。参与者采用目的抽样法选取，数据采用主题分析法进行分析。
本研究纳入了处于职业生涯不同阶段、来自不同外科专业的参与者，其中两人有领导经验。基于参与者的观点，有几个因素导致女性被排除在领导岗位之外。其中最突出的是外科领导工作时间长、领导岗位责任更大、性别刻板印象以及工作与家庭的冲突。由于男性霸权，女性被认为能力较差，人们期望她们具备男性特质才能成为成功的领导者。有趣的是，一些参与者已经内化了这种刻板印象，从她们的叙述中可以明显看出，她们对外科领导缺乏兴趣和能力。
研究局限/影响：本文的研究结果来自于对巴基斯坦伊斯兰堡和拉瓦尔品第两市的10名女性外科医生的观点，这些医生是采用便利抽样法选取的。因此，结果不能推广到该国其他城市的广大女性外科医生群体。尽管如此，这项研究的独特之处在于，它为女性外科医生的经历以及她们对巴基斯坦医院外科领导的看法提供了有益的见解。在学术上，它通过提供来自巴基斯坦的实证证据，为全球关于外科领导的辩论做出了贡献。
原创性/价值：本文通过揭示巴基斯坦女性外科医生的经历，为关于女性在外科领导岗位上代表性不足的更大辩论做出了贡献。它呼吁在卫生管理和政策方面进行结构性变革，以容纳女性外科医生。组织层面的努力可以减少一些障碍，鼓励更多女性担任更正式的领导角色。作者还呼吁外科领域有更多女性，为创造新的领导机会铺平道路。
