Summary
Gender inequality persists in academic medicine around the world, yet few studies have looked closely at how social and cultural practices shape it over the course of women physicians’ careers. This study investigates the lived experiences of women physicians working in academic medicine in South Korea.
It is a qualitative study using a grounded theory approach. Twenty-one women physicians took part in semi-structured interviews, which were recorded, transcribed, and analysed through constant comparison to extract themes.
Junior women physicians were more exposed to gender discrimination in a hospital culture described as seniority-based, patriarchal, collectivist, and business-oriented. Under pressure to excel at work, participants reported no work–family balance and identity crises as doctors and mothers. They felt ‘othered’ in settings such as school ties, rank hierarchy, and after-work gatherings. Low leadership aspiration fed a cycle of limited networking and mentoring, and participants tended to attribute their struggles to personal choices and rarely sought organizational support.
Why it matters
The study concludes that cultural and social practices keep recreating the mechanisms of inequality, and calls for planned culture change at individual, organizational, and national levels.
Citation
Han, H., Kim, Y., Kim, S., Cho, Y., & Chae, C. (2018). Looking into the labyrinth of gender inequality: Women physicians in academic medicine. Medical Education, 52(10), 1083–1095. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.13682
Indexed in: SSCI
Citation
@online{2018,
author = {},
title = {Looking into the {Labyrinth} of {Gender} {Inequality:}
{Women} {Physicians} in {Academic} {Medicine}},
date = {2018-10-01},
url = {https://chadchae.github.io/posts_publication/2018-10-01-labyrinth-gender-inequality-women-physicians/labyrinth-gender-inequality-women-physicians.html},
langid = {en}
}