The Perspective of Brazilian Women Orthopaedic Surgeons on Gender Discrimination: Initial Insights to Understand Gender Bias in the Brazilian Healthcare System

Abstract

Despite the societal progress made in recent years, gender discrimination is still common in healthcare, especially in some surgical specialties such as orthopaedics. In Brazil, where the participation of women in the medical profession has been increasing, little is known about women's perceptions on the issue of gender discrimination. This study aims to examine women orthopaedic surgeons' experiences in dealing with conflict in the workplace and contextualize the impact that gender discrimination has had or currently has on their careers and well-being. As a secondary objective, the work seeks to understand whether there are differences in the perception of the issue among practicing women orthopaedic surgeons and those in training. For a cross-sectional qualitative study, a survey was distributed exclusively to 300 practicing orthopaedic surgeons and orthopaedists in training (residents and fellows). A total of 99 women participated in the survey, of whom 66 were practicing orthopaedic surgeons and 33 were orthopaedists in training. The study showed that women orthopaedic surgeons in training in Brazil have a lower number of publications and a moderate level of involvement in academic society activity. In addition, orthopaedic surgeons in training experience a statistically significantly higher number of conflicts in the workplace. The comments from the questionnaires highlighted the physical and psychological consequences arising from these situations of professional conflict, most frequently occurring with orthopaedic surgeons who are men. Our findings indicate that respondents expressed a feeling of inequality towards women in the workplace, ultimately reducing the level of job satisfaction among female orthopaedic surgeons, which may contribute to disinterest and abandonment of the specialty. The results of this work support recent evidence that there is an implicit and often overlooked bias against the participation of women and ethnic minorities in the orthopaedic community in Brazil.