More than nine in ten female doctors in the UK have experienced sexism at work, with 42 per cent feeling that they could not report it.
Women who took part in the British Medical Association survey said that they suffer patronising comments, are being judged on their appearance, can be overlooked in their career progression or are ignored by patients and other doctors in favour of their male colleagues.
The BMA asked doctors whether they had experienced sexist behaviour in the past year. As many as 2,458 responded with 84 per cent of all respondents saying they felt there was an issue of sexism in the medical profession.
The BMA’s survey, the findings of which are to be published in the Sexism in Medicine report, also found that: 28 per cent of men respondents said that they have/had more opportunities during training because of their gender, compared to one per cent of women respondents; 61 per cent of women respondents felt they were discouraged to work in a particular specialty because of their gender with 39 per cent going on to decide not to work in that speciality; and 70 per cent of women respondents felt that their clinical ability had been doubted or undervalued because of their gender, compared to four per cent of men respondents.
The BMA will now develop recommendations to address the unacceptable experiences that have been raised. These will form actions that will be shared with appropriate partners and stakeholders who will be encouraged to report back on progress made.
Dr Latifa Patel, who is the acting chair of the BMA’s representative body, said: “It is appalling that we are seeing these statistics, hearing these stories and talking about these inequalities in 2021. The report makes for shocking reading and there is no place for sexism in society. If we want to eradicate it, we all have a part to play. It’s going to take a concerted effort, and it won’t be quick to fix, but sexism must stop.
“We are truly grateful to Dr Jewitt, a member of the BMA, for bringing her concerns to us so that we could use our resources to tackle these issues.
“At the BMA we had our own moment of reckoning with the publication of the Romney Report. We put in place a range of measures including an independent complaints procedure, further emphasis of our core values as a daily reminder and we strengthened our training programme for members and staff. Everyone at the BMA is empowered to call out sexism when they see it, whether that’s when they hear inappropriate language, if they see others reinforcing stereotypes or if they witness prejudice.
“We now have the greatest diversity we’ve ever had at the top of our elected members’ leadership. We also have more elected women then we’ve ever had. Our commitment to improve our diversity and representation continues and we hope to continue to improve on these outcomes.
“Now we are asking our partners in health, including the NHS, to join us in tackling gender discrimination issues and make medicine a better place to work.”
