The majority of leadership positions at schools and hospitals open to surgeons ? and the higher salaries that go with them ? usually are awarded to men, as female surgeons say they face challenges their male colleagues do not.
For male and female surgeons to work at least 60 hours a week is common, but men often have wives who stay at home or work part-time to help with family obligations and child rearing, said Dr. Martha Zeiger, chief of the endocrine surgery section at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.
“It basically hearkens back to our society and how we are structured,” she said.
Zeiger said she was the only woman she knew in the early 1980s to, along with her husband, raise a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old during her residency at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine.
“I knew of very few residencies who even had a woman finish, let alone one who had children,” she said. “Women surgeons bring something unique to the table as a surgeon. They often more empathetic of patients.”
Patricia Numann, founder of the Association of Women Surgeons, said medical schools and teachers need to encourage more women to enter the field of surgery or hospitals run the risk of a shortage of surgeons.
“Women physicians are very popular among women patients, and they bring something different to the mix and create a diverse environment,” she said.
The few women who navigate into a traditionally male-dominated world and pursue surgery, Numann said, are happier as a result.
“One of the interesting things I?ve found is that women surgeons are very satisfied with their career choice, more so than any other discipline,” she said.
AT A GLANCE
Number of U.S. general surgeons
» Male: 32,000
» Female: 5,000
» Total: 37,000
Source: American Medical Association 2004 statistics
