Abstract
BackgroundMost studies evaluating career aspirations among gender are performed in Anglo-Saxon countries. Two recent French studies looked at the career choice of residents in obstetrics & gynecology. It seemed useful to us to broaden this questioning to other specialties, by proposing a study to all residents in the same Faculty. The objective of our study was to describe residents’ career aspirations and possible barriers according to gender.MethodsDeclarative cross-sectional survey, using questionnaires sent by email to the specialty residents of the Faculty of Medicine of Lille (France). An analysis by specialty group (i.e., medicine, surgery, obstetrics & gynecology, and anesthesia & resuscitation) and a comparison of the results according to gender were performed.ResultsOf the 1384 specialty residents currently in training, 462 answered the questionnaire (33.38%), among whom 289 women and 173 men (average age = 27.08 ± 0.091 years). Seventeen women (5.9%) were currently considering a university hospital career versus 37 men (21.4%) (p = 0.001).Gender analysis made it possible to identify obstacles to engaging in a university career: lacking a female model, more frequent doubting the ability to undertake this type of career among women (61.6%) than men (35.3%) (p < 0.001), and gender discrimination felt in the workplace for 51.6% of women (versus 7.5% of men, p < 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed specificities related to each specialty.ConclusionsFew residents plan to embark upon a university hospital career, let alone female residents. There are considerations specific to each specialty and marked gender differences regarding career aspirations. Many features have been identified as obstacles to access to university hospital positions for women. It is important to develop strategies to remove these barriers and enable women to pursue such university careers.Trial registrationNot applicable (no intervention).
Highlights
Most studies evaluating career aspirations among gender are performed in Anglo-Saxon countries
Two recent additional studies looked at the career choice of residents in obstetrics & gynecology [3, 4]
We show that women plan less than men to pursue a university career, and this difference is even more marked in certain specialties such as surgery
Summary
Most studies evaluating career aspirations among gender are performed in Anglo-Saxon countries. Several recent studies have addressed questions of personal–professional balance: the balance between professional as well as personal constraints and satisfactions, discriminatory barriers to desirable positions, and career aspirations [1,2,3,4,5]. These studies provide a state-of-play of hospital functioning and describe the place of women in positions of responsibility within the medical community. Two recent additional studies looked at the career choice of residents in obstetrics & gynecology [3, 4] They showed that many barriers limited women’s access to university hospital positions
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