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Revision as of 23:03, 7 September 2017

Sexism in medicine involves discriminating against patients, physicians, medical students and medical-school staff on the basis of gender. Most sexism is directed against women. The discrimination can involve comments on women's appearance; the imposition of an aggressive "macho" culture; verbal abuse; bullying; sexual assault; being passed over for promotion; and being denied treatment. Assessing the differences in pain treatment and the report of pain between men and women is complicated by the possibility that men and women perceive or experience pain differently. Men in nursing are often subjected to sexist treatment.

Female patients

Female patients are often treated differently from men. Women have been described in studies and in narratives as emotional and hysterical. Historically, women's health has been called "bikini medicine". In addition, some physicians assume that women should be assessed and receive identical treatments as men. Narratives include the reporting that women's complaints are considered exaggerated and may be assumed to be invalid. Because of this women are often subsequently are referred to psychiatrists for treatment. The tendency of treating pain in women with antidepressants exposes the women to developing side effects to medication that they might not even need. The report of medical concerns by women are more likely to be discounted, misdiagnosed, ignored and assumed to be psychosomatic. One observer has stated that, "different forms of female suffering are minimized, mocked, coaxed into silence." There are those that disagree with this characterization. Clinicians are not as likely to assess women for substance abuse. They also tend to miss signs of substance addiction in women. Women are not as likely as men to be assessed for alchohol abuse. Out of those women who are found to have an alcohol problem, they were found to be less likely to be referred for treatment. Those women in the childbearing years are prescribed more prescription medications than men. It is generally more common for women to be prescribed antipsychotics and opioids. 

Medications are sometimes only evaluated related to their effects and side effects on men. This results in problems when women take the same medication.

Women report feeling like they were 'silly' by male physicians but female physicians were more sensitive and preferred.

"Women bear a larger behavioral health burden than men and are more likely to report past year serious psychologic distress as well as any mental illness including a major depressive episode, anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress. Women have a higher prevalence of adverse childhood experiences, such as physical or sexual abuse, and are more likely to experience gender-based violence as adults. Women are more likely to report pain (especially category 3 or 4 pain) than men, owing to both their reproductive capacity (for example dysmenorrhea and endometriosis) as well as to a greater prevalence of painful chronic conditions (such as arthritis and fibromyalgia)...Women also have a greater prevalence of longer-term opioid medication use. Almost 40% of women aged 15–44 years report receiving at least one opioid prescription in 2015. Of the 2.1 million initiators of opioid misuse per year, 1.2 million (57%) are women, which translates to 3,300 women per day initiating opioid misuse in the U.S. ... Women have greater health care utilization than men and more physician visits not inclusive of maternity care...This may be due to the fact that providers do not associate substance use, misuse, and addiction with women, much less with white insured women. Although more men die from opioid overdose in the U.S., the rate of death is increasing more rapidly for women than men. From 1999 to 2010, prescription opioid overdose deaths increased 400% for women and 237% for men. Since 2007, more women have died from drug overdoses than from motor vehicle crashes. In 2015, the last year for which complete data are available, opioid-related overdose took the lives of 31 women per day."

Female clinicians

Female clinicians have experienced sexual assault. Female surgeons have been found to have lower salaries than male surgeons. Disparities between male and femalre surgeons has been blamed upon 'choosing a family over career'. Yet women are just as willing as men to accept positions of leadership when they are equally qualified. Women clinicians are equal to men at at leadership tasks.

Female clinicians often treat women patients differently than they do men. Some report that they feel that physicians, both men and women doctors, do not take their report of pain seriously. Female physician narratives have described instances of sexism.

Male clinicians

Males only make up 9% of nurses. Stereotyping of men is related to nursing considered a profession for women. Issues regarding sexism in/against male clinicians are harder to describe except possibly by example. Male nurses report:

• being mistaken for a doctor
• being asked to see the 'pretty' nurse
• being called 'Doc' even when the patient knew the man was a nurse
• being discounted as 'only' a nurse rather than a doctor by other professionals
• being asked: "when are you going to become a doctor?"
• being told that a female nurse is preferred
• being bullied on the job
• being teased as a child for wanting to be a nurse

Other questions are often asked of male nurses such as 'why did you go into nursing'? Or they are asked if they are gay failed medical school and became a nurse because it was easier. Sometimes a male nurse can be asked if he is nurse so that he can see undressed women. In some instances male nurses were assumed to be the 'muscle' for other female nurses. Nursing supervisors tended to ask patients if it was alright to assign a male nurse to provide care. Male nurses have reported bias directed toward them during their studies. They experienced anxiety, insomnia, anger, and trepidation in anticipation of being treated poorly.

Medical education

Women are underrepresented in leadership positions in academic medicine. Studies indicate a systematic bias that has resulted in relatively fewer appointments to academic chairs. Women tend to leave medical academia and research positions more often than men.  Fewer women participate in surgical academia. This is due to the lack of gender awareness and role models. Female medical students have reported sexual harassment and discrimination. This is of concern because these obstacles affect "the professional identity formation and specialty choice." Personality differences exist between male and female surgical students. Fewer women choose to specialize in surgery. The lack of female role models may discourage some from choosing a surgical career.

History

During the late 1800s, physicians (predominately male) described physical ailments of women as 'hysteria'. In 1948 some women volunteered to take part in an experiment designed to quantify pain in laboring women. During their labor, their hands were burned.

In 1990, the National Institutes of Health recognized the disparities in research of disease in men and when. At this time the Office of Research on Women’s Health was created. A large part of its purpose is to raise awareness of sex affects disease and treatments. In 1991 and 1992 recognition that a 'glass ceiling' existed which prevented from female clinicians from being promoted.

See also

• Gender bias on Misplaced Pages
• Reverse sexism
• Men in nursing

References

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27. Madsen, M. K.; Blide, L. A. (1 November 1992). "Professional advancement of women in health care management: a conceptual model". Topics in Health Information Management. 13 (2): 45–55. PMID 10122424.
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• Chauvinism
• Discrimination
• Hatred
• Prejudices
• Sexism
• Sexuality and gender-related prejudices
• Gender equality
• Feminist terminology
• Pain
• Nursing
• Male nurses
• Drugs