Is Urology a gender-biased career choice? A survey-based study of the Italian medical students' perception of specialties

Reale Sofia; Orecchia Luca; Ippoliti Simona; Pletto Simone; Pastore Serena; Germani Stefano; Nardi Alessandra; Miano Roberto

doi:10.3389/fsurg.2022.962824

Is Urology a gender-biased career choice? A survey-based study of the Italian medical students' perception of specialties

Front Surg. 2022 Jul 29:9:962824. doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2022.962824. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Reale Sofia¹, Orecchia Luca², Ippoliti Simona³, Pletto Simone², Pastore Serena², Germani Stefano², Nardi Alessandra⁴, Miano Roberto^{2

5}

Affiliations

¹ Urology Unit, CHUV - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland.
² Urology Unit, Policlinico Tor Vergata Foundation, Rome, Italy.
³ Urology Department, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, Harrogate, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Mathematics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
⁵ Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.

Abstract

Background: Despite the well-established worldwide phenomenon of "the feminisation of medicine," in Italy, Urology remains a male-dominated field.

Objective: The aims of our work are to assess data on medical students' choice of surgical specialty in Italy to investigate if a gender-biased trend exists and to find the key points that influence the decision-making process when choosing a specialty, with a focus on Urology.

Design: Data about access to residency programs in 2017-2020 were analysed through descriptive statistics. Investigations concerning the decision-making process were carried through distribution of an online anonymous survey to Italian medical students.

Results: Urology was among the specialties with the lowest proportion of female residents in Italy in the last 4 years: 37 (29.4%) in 2017, 27 (21.4%) in 2018, 40 (26.7%) in 2019, and 57 (25.2%) in 2020. The total number of participants of the survey was 1409, of which only 341 declared being keen to pursue a career path in surgery. Out of the 942 students not interested in surgery, 46.2% females and 22.5% males indicated a "sexist environment" as one of the reasons. Overall, the main reason for medical students not choosing Urology is the lack of interest in the specialty. Furthermore, there is a different perception of Urology as a sexist environment between female (23.4%) and male (3.2%, p < 0.001) medical students, which may influence their decision-making process.

Conclusions: In Italy, the prevalence of female medical graduates does not mirror the proportion of female doctors choosing a career in some surgical specialties, including Urology. Our survey results clearly identified that a large proportion of medical graduates are not choosing urology because of the perception of a sexist environment. While the reasons for this phenomenon remain unclear, the presence of a gender-biased perception of a sexist environment represents a possible explanation.

Keywords: Feminisation of medicine; medical students; sexist environment; specialty training; urology training.

Grants and funding

Open access funding was provided by the University of Lausanne.