As
a woman in surgery, gender issues come up frequently. It’s something that really weighs on my mind,
and I want to take this opportunity to set the record straight. Gender equality matters, and we all need to
do our part to the even the playing field in surgical specialties.
The
fields of sewing and knot tying have historically dominated by women. For thousands of years, everything that was
sewn by a human, was sewn by a women. In
the modern era, woman are taught from a very young age to handle
needles and thread, and go through rigorous afternoon craft sessions where our
work is critiqued and judged until it reaches a level of precision suitable for
a surgeon, or at least enough to hold our handmade pillow case together. When we wanted to cement our social standing
with our best friend, we were forced to undertake a tedious and tiresome knot
tying ritual known as “making friendship bracelets”. The
intricacy and precision of the bracelet was believed to be reflective of the
commitment to the friendship, forcing BFF’s to engage in a never ending
competition to out-tie and out-braid their brightly colored mess of threads
into a work of art.
Our
hands would ache, our eyes would water, and all we could think was “one more knot, just one more knot….” Looking back at my Girl Scout experience, it
really could be renamed “Surgical Technique 101”. Except there would be less cookies.
Despite
our natural and obvious dominance of the skills required for surgery, women
must actively work to welcome men into the field of surgery. This revolutionary and controversial
viewpoint is not embraced yet by the mainstream surgical audience, so allow me
to make my case. I truly believe that
there is a role for Men in Surgery, and that, over time, we will come to find
them a truly valuable part of the surgical community.
Despite
their obvious deficit in sewing and knot tying based on childhood experiences,
men can in fact develop these skills if given proper time and training. A patient teacher and an abundance of
motivation must be present in order for these men to make up on lost time, but
it is possible. There’s a growing body
of evidence that video gaming at a young age improves laparoscopic skills. So we should remind them that their wasted
youth, devoid of knot-tying, may still have some usefulness.
Another
obstacle that men must overcome is their natural urges and biologic
shortcomings which often distract them from surgery. Their frequent requests to time off to attend
major sporting events, improve their golf game, or simply to fart and scratch
their balls at home, must be met with tolerance and understanding. The biologic differences between women and
men cannot be changed, but we must work to adjust our expectations and work
schedules to account for these inconvenient and unexpected interruptions to the
work flow.
The
operating room can be a hostile place for men in surgery, and as women we must
actively work to reform this. Both
circulating and scrub nurses are almost uniformly female, and careers in
anesthesia (including CRNA’s) is rapidly trending toward a female
predominance. Many scholars have
postulated that men are simply no longer a relevant part of the operating room
culture. The sisterhood that has
developed often alienates men. They are kept out of the social circle by their
lack of understanding of our reality TV show and Glee references. Metaphors related to the contestants on the
Bachelor often go over their head and
they find themselves lacking a common
language as their female peers. As women
in surgery, we must actively reach out to these men. Take time away from the operating room to
review common metaphors which they may overhear. Answer their questions about Grey’s Anatomy
in a honest and respectful way. It’s not
their fault that they cannot participate in the female-dominated operating room
culture- they were simply raised differently.
Change
must come from the leadership in our field.
There is no room for gender bias in the hiring process. Science has
proven repeatedly that women tend to be more detail oriented, more patient, and
better at resolving complex emotional and relationship issues- all of which are
highly valued in chosing which surgeon to hire for an open position. But I urge my colleagues to consider some of
the lesser known traits of men which may in fact be just as valuable. For example, I bet you didn’t know that men
can lift very heavy things. Additionally,
men tend to have larger hands. While
this makes them struggle in many of the fine and delicate aspects of surgery,
it could be seen as a positive when considering stool disimpaction. Lastly, remember that men have feelings
too. They just might surprise you with
their compassion and grace. Oh yeah! And
they are tall. Think of all those dead
light bulbs they could change.
Allowing
men to become surgeons enhances the diversity of our work force, which I’ve
been told is a good thing. If we hope to
remain a vital and relevant field amongst medical specialties, we must embrace
all gender equally- even the ones with external genitaila. Gross.
This blog was created by RV Designs using elements by Libby Weifenbach.