Women in Otorhinolaryngolgy in Nigeria

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Surgery has a predominantly male-dominated population, especially in Otolaryngology. Efforts have been made worldwide to improve gender equality in medicine, including Otolaryngology. Knowing the experience will help the curriculum develop.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> An anonymous web-based survey was distributed via the WhatsApp group of the Otorhinolaryngological Society of Nigeria (ORLSON) platform using the survey monkey. A questionnaire-based study using a 10 stem questions, assessing demographics, academic progression, work life balance and factors affecting women in Otolaryngology in Nigeria was carried out in April 2020 for four weeks. All information gathered from the study was entered into Statistical Package and Service Solution (SPSS) version 20 and analyzed.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 37 women responded out of 48 women in Otolaryngology practice. Twenty-nine (78%) had complete responses to all the ten stem questions. Mean age of responders is 39±7.28 years ±7.27 S.D. Thirty-eight percent are consultant cadre, 86% are married. The average duration of residency is 7 years. A quarter of responders are interested in Head and Neck as a subspecialty. Thirteen-point eight percent experienced some form of sexual harassment during the course of residency training, 62% believe women lack mentorship in Otolaryngology while 59.46% did not feel disadvantaged as females in otolaryngology compared to their male counterparts.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Despite increase in women in surgical practice and a growing number of women joining residency programs, the number of female Otolaryngologists remains just a fraction of what it should be. The curriculum has many problems affected by gender.</p>

The Challenges Experienced By Female Surgeons in Africa: A Systematic Review

“…Three studies identified harassment as a challenge that women in surgical specialties face [10, 11, 15]. Examples include hostile culture toward females, emotional threats, and sexual harassment.…”

“…Naidu et al [17], in a South African cross‐sectional study carried out to identify challenges and barriers in surgery, were able to demonstrate that women were more likely to report sexual harassment and that there is a hostile culture toward females.15 out of the 33 females (45%) reported gender discrimination as a challenge in surgical training as opposed to 0 out of the 96 males surveyed. A small number of female otorhinolaryngology Residents in Nigeria in a study conducted by Adebola et al reported that they have experienced some form of sexual harassment [15]. Umoetok et al [11] reported that 40% (13/32) of women surveyed had experienced emotional threats from peers and supervisors.…”

“…Three studies identified problems with balancing work and life as a challenge that women face [9, 11, 13, 15]. Umoetok et al [19] demonstrated that female surgeons felt guilt for trying to balance their service and family commitment.…”

“…Yi et al [12] were able to show that female surgeons felt that occupying a female role in the family and society often felt at odds with their roles as surgeons. In a study by Adebola et al [15], 42% of female surgical residents who had children during training missed some form of academic activities because of family‐related issues, while some (39%) even had to stop having children.…”

“…Underrepresentation was identified as a barrier in four studies [9, 13–15]. 8.6% of women surveyed in a study by Makama et al [9] cited a lack of women in surgery as a deterrent to choosing a surgical career.…”