Cultural Barriers for Women in Surgery: How Thick is the Glass Ceiling? An Analysis from a Low Middle-Income Country

Excerpt

While gender equity is an important social value, to sustain the global surgical workforce equal inclusion of women is essential. For nearly a decade, women have represented 50% or more of medical students globally. Without women selecting surgery as their specialty as frequently as men, the global surgical work force will shrink. Low–middle-income countries (LMICs), which are already woefully understaffed with surgeons, will suffer disproportionately. If trends from other countries are repeated in LMIC, women will not seek surgical careers more frequently just because there are more women in medical school. A proactive approach based on data which removes the barriers to selecting surgery is necessary. One cannot assume that countries and regions possess the same societal and cultural barriers just because they are economically similar: therefore, studies like this which examine specific regions are important [1]. The Global Gender Equity report of the World Economic Forum which is published biennially contains useful information on gender disparities across the world [2]. The cultural and societal values data obtained in this study from Pakistan are just the specific type of information needed to inform change in that region. Although a single institution study, the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan, is a large well-respected institution. The Dean is one of the authors who speaks to an institutional commitment to effect change. The value of leadership’s commitment cannot be emphasized enough. …