Q&A: Women physicians need to ‘be at the table, advocate for changes’ to thrive in GI
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In a 2023 survey published in JAMA Network Open, women physicians reported being responsible for 58.4% of family maintenance, including childcare or eldercare, and 49.2% of household duties compared with their spouses or partners.
Bearing these responsibilities on top of a medical career is a challenge many women physicians face in gastroenterology, according to Linda Nguyen, MD, clinical professor of medicine and interim chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at Stanford University.
“There are several layers of barriers,” Nguyen told Healio. “One is ... the competing demands outside of work, including taking care of your children or elderly parents. Those competing priorities may impact a more rigid career where there is a structured schedule. It’s challenging with inflexible schedules to juggle all those things.”
When Nguyen was a single mom, the lack of autonomy and flexibility in her work schedule caused challenges in her personal life, especially fitting in school drop-off and pick-up for her children, while pursuing her career. Many of her male colleagues advised her to hire someone to care for her children, but that was not an option for her as she valued those moments.
Since having a “traditional schedule” did not work for her family, she negotiated with her chief for a more flexible work schedule that fit her needs.
“It is important to have the ability to build in flexibility and autonomy into one’s schedule,” Nguyen said. “Not having those things is why a lot of women leave medicine or academics.”
In an interview with Healio, Nguyen further details what came from advocating and negotiating for a flexible schedule and highlights ways women and male allies can push for changes in gastroenterology.
Healio: Discuss how you used your ability to advocate for yourself to help others.
Nguyen: Since I was able to negotiate for a flexible schedule, I was able to stay in academic medicine. If I didn’t have that flexible schedule, I would have left academic medicine and I wouldn’t be where I am today. When I got into a leadership position and had the ability to influence changes, I was able to advocate for flexible schedules for our faculty.
Our faculty who need to start their workday later are able to, which allows them to drop their kids off and not feel like they are missing out on all the little things that are important.
Healio: What can women do to overcome barriers?
Nguyen: Advocate for yourself and for one another. Be at the table and advocate for changes.
Raise awareness and recognize that you’re not alone. Oftentimes women are either at academic medical centers or in practices where they might be the only woman there or there is one other woman, so you suffer in silence thinking that you’re the only one. It feels more like an imposter phenomenon.
Learn how other individuals succeeded and how they were able to overcome barriers. It doesn’t necessarily have to be within GI. We can learn from women in other heavily male-dominated specialties, such as surgery and anesthesia, and support one another.
Healio: Discuss why you say women physicians should have “grit and glam” and how it can help them overcome barriers.
Nguyen: Grit is having perseverance. A lot of medical training involves grit where you must persevere and work hard. Glam, I think about it as authenticity. Being able to be authentically who you are, especially women in medicine. We tend to hide who we are and wear darker colors to dress like the men.
“Grit and glam” is being able to persevere authentically and not necessarily fitting into the system but changing the system so we can thrive.
Healio: What can male allies do to help put an end to gender disparities in medicine?
Nguyen: Recognize that there are external challenges that women face. Be allies or advocates for flexible schedules and recognize that you must be intentional about making changes. A lot of promotions, especially in academics are about recognition and awards, so be intentional about recognizing women, whether it’s nominating them for awards, leadership positions or mentorships and sponsorships.
Oftentimes women are asked to mentor and sponsor other women but because there are more male gastroenterologists than female gastroenterologists, it becomes more difficult for women to find mentors and sponsors. It also puts a larger burden on women to be mentors and sponsors. Men need to be a part of the solution in mentoring and sponsoring women, and opening doors.
Healio: What does Scrubs & Heels do to help overcome these barriers?
Nguyen: Scrubs & Heels sheds light on the fact that you’re not alone. There are other people who are struggling with the same things and we can learn from each other.
Sometimes when you see people who have succeeded or are succeeding, you think that they’ve had a very smooth journey. One of the things Scrubs & Heels does well is remove some of that facade that we all had a very smooth journey to get where we are now. It helps people to see that there are different journeys and there’s not one path to success.
Reference s:
- Bakkensen JB, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.26192.
- Nguyen L. Gender disparity in GI: A difficult pill to swallow. Presented at: Scrubs and Heels Summit; April 12-14, 2024; Miami.
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