Female Surgeons Multitask More Than Males? Of Course!

New multicenter research has tackled the thorny issue of differences between female and male orthopedic surgeons when it comes to work-family balance. The study, “Discrepancies in Work-Family Integration Between Female and Male Orthopaedic Surgeons,” appears in the March 2, 2022, edition of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

Co-author Danielle Ponzio, M.D., with the Rothman Orthopaedic Institute in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, explained the genesis of the study to OTW, “Broadly speaking, work-family integration is a topic that impacts women and men across career paths, but women are particularly vulnerable.”

“How do you combine professional success and satisfaction with a real commitment to family? Thanks to the pioneering progress of women before us, today we have freedoms and opportunities that shift the conversation towards taking an honest look at the barriers and flaws that still exist in the system.”

“Personally, this was the right time for me to look more deeply at this issue as I am growing my clinical and academic practice as an orthopaedic surgeon, and I became a mom to twin girls. Suddenly, I faced the reality of integrating those two roles which meant compromise, sacrifice, and sometimes outright discrimination.”

“With this study, I wanted to better define some of the factors that differed between male and female orthopaedic surgeons in the realms of work and family life. Our goals were to promote recognition of the issue and to seek solutions to more effectively attract, support, and retain women as successful orthopaedic surgeons.”

A total of 153 female and 194 male orthopedic surgeons completed an anonymous survey addressing items such as professional responsibilities, when they were married, existence and timing of childbirth, parenting, and household duties.

“Consulting (7.8% women versus 31.4% men), course faculty positions (19.0% women versus 39.2% men), and academic and leadership titles (30.7% women versus 47.4% men) were significantly less common among females,” wrote the authors.

There was also a significant income disparity between women (mean yearly income, $300,000 to $400,000) and men (mean, $400,000 to $500,000). Women were more likely to have never married (12.4% women versus 2.6% men), or they married at a later mean age (30.2 ± 4.7 women versus 28.3 ± 3.9 years men).

Women were more likely to have no children (29.4% women versus 7.8% men), require fertility treatment (32.0% women versus 11.9% men), and not have children until after completing their medical training (63.0% women versus 31.1% men).

Female surgeons reported more responsibility in parenting and household duties than males. Work-family balance satisfaction was 72.3% in females and 82.1% in males.”

Orthopedic surgery not so attractive for females?

“As expected,” said Dr. Ponzio to OTW, “we found deficiencies in work-family integration that seemed to uniquely impact female orthopaedic surgeons. Female surgeons delay starting a family, more frequently require fertility treatments, carry more responsibility at home, have fewer academic and leadership roles, earn lower incomes, and are less satisfied with work-family balance relative to males.”

“First, we need more people and organizations to recognize this issue and to join the conversation. We should prioritize supporting women into leadership positions to help change the culture from the top and to serve as mentors for future generations.”

“We should normalize processes surrounding parental leave and caregiver responsibilities, particularly as they interface with career advancement. We should be critical of current day-to-day practices that may not support work-family integration and consider small changes that may make a large impact.”