Women Gastroenterologists in Academic Medicine: Tradition Versus Transition

Abstract

Most women experience childhood dreams of being a grownup, with a pretty house with a white picket fence and children running around. That same little girl wanted to be a doctor; she grew up and had to face the reality that life is more complex than her dreams and that being a female gastroenterologist in this era is a multifaceted endeavor. Gastroenterology as a specialty offers the opportunity to provide long-term care to our patients and enjoy the technical aspects of endoscopy and other procedures. Until as recently as 1990, fewer than 5% of gastroenterologists were women, possibly due to the perception at the time that the practice of gastroenterology was associated with long and irregular hours, frequent night call, harsh physical strength, and quite frankly, working with aesthetically challenging bodily emanations. Recently, when more women started to consider gastroenterology as a subspecialty, there was also increased interest by women in technology, a gender shift that may reflect changes in women's places in society. Nevertheless, since gastroenterology remains a physically and intellectually demanding subspecialty, conflicts between personal and career goals arise as women transition from fellowship to practice. It is expected that as women struggle to balance family and career, the discovery of new approaches to traditional women's contributions toward academic gastroenterology and career pathways is warranted.

Women in Gastroenterology: What Is the Current Situation? Results of an Italian National Survey

“…Regarding gastroenterology, a branch combining clinical aspects and operative procedures, only 5% of doctors are women [ 4 ]. There is an active debate on the possible reasons for the under-representation in academic careers, leadership positions, mentoring roles, and inequities in the workplace [ 13 ]. We conducted this survey to evaluate the Italian reality of women gastroenterologists.…”

“…We also found that more than half of the respondents with children had to resize and scale down their career projects due to their family needs. Gastroenterologists have frequent on-call nights [ 13 ] and work longer hours on average than many other specialties, as reported by the 2004–2005 Community Tracking Survey [ 19 ]. Burke et al showed that women gastroenterologists have, on average, one child and alter their family planning more often than their male counterparts [ 18 ].…”

Editorial: Women in gastrointestinal and hepatic pharmacology 2022

“…Until 1990, fewer than 5% of gastroenterologists were women ( Feliu-Dominguez et al, 2017 ). Women representation has increased, but recent reports still show gender disparity favoring men in numbers (gastroenterology remains within the top 10 for male-dominated physician specialties; AMMC, 2021 ), salary, and leadership positions in both clinical and academic settings, irrespective of geographic area ( Chua et al, 2021 ; Sethi et al, 2022 ; Kedia et al, 2023 ).…”

Women in Gastroenterology in Latin America

“…Gastroenterological Association raised that even when almost 50% of medical students are women, only 13% of practicing gastroenterologists are females. 12 Even though there are many women in all Gastroenterology areas around the world, there are still few women in leadership positions. Cristina Surawicz, in her article published in World Gastro News, explains why.…”

“…Until 1990, fewer than 5% of gastroenterologists in USA were women, possibly because of irregular hours, frequent night calls, and harsh physical strength. In 2017, the American Gastroenterological Association raised that even when almost 50% of medical students are women, only 13% of practicing gastroenterologists are females 12…”