Today is International Women’s Day, an important date that we must continue to celebrate in order to raise our voices until we achieve an equal future for all women in the world: without stereotypes, without violence, with equal rights and opportunities.
There is still much to be done and much to be achieved. In an article dedicated to International Women’s Day 2021, the United Nations (UN) mentions alarming data from a report by the UN Secretary General. It analyzes the percentage of women who are currently heads of state or government: they are so in 22 countries and only 24.9% of parliamentarians at the national level are women. The UN estimates that gender equality among women heads of government will take another 130 years.
However, the differences between genders are not only in politics but in any sector of society, despite the fact that improvements are gradually being achieved. Under the premise that the world needs women at all decision-making tables, the UN dedicates this day in 2021 to all those women who have made (and are making) great efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic.
From Top Doctors we want to join the fight for women’s rights, and we have the collaboration of two nationally referenced doctors in their specialties. Dr. María José Ribal, urologist, and Dr. Ana Belén Fernández, traumatologist, explain to us how they have made a place for themselves in specialties that are not very feminized and what society (and Medicine) should do to achieve real equality. Both have been winners of the Top Doctors Awards in different editions, being considered by their own colleagues as the best specialists in Urology and Traumatology in Spain.
Women take the reins: battle against Covid-19 on the front line
Many women in the health sector have been in the front line fighting and researching against Covid-19 and from Top Doctors we want to highlight and thank them for their work. Women doctors, scientists, caregivers, nurses and other female healthcare workers, who make up 70% of the healthcare workforce, have doubled their efforts in the fight against this pandemic. And when women are in charge, the results are positive. According to the UN article, some of the most exemplary and efficient responses to the pandemic have been female-led units.
Is healthcare a feminized sector?
A feminized profession is considered to be one in which the percentage of women over men exceeds 55%. According to data from the Economically Active Population Survey (EPA) and the National Statistics Institute (INE), Medicine, with 56.4%; Pharmacy, with 65.7% or Nursing, with 84.5%, could be considered feminized professions. In Spain there are 1.2 million people working in healthcare. Of these, the majority are women, with a total of 928,000, according to Redacción Médica. Men, on the other hand, account for 20%, or some 345,000.
According to INE figures, the percentage of women employed in the healthcare sector is almost 80%. Despite this, and the fact that physicians are the second health profession with the most women, only 49.7% of registered physicians are women.
This is compounded by the low representation of women in management bodies and positions, as well as in research. Dr. Ribal, a specialist in Urology, explains that we live in a patriarchal society where there are still many things to change, including her profession: “in Medicine there is also implicit bias, little promotion of women in leadership positions, there is little representation of women at the level of medical societies or in journal editorials, and there are even few women who are heads of service. All of this means that if we are not able to create this model, we do not attract talent either. It’s a vicious circle that we have to work on. And the same goes for research. Dr. Fernández, an expert in traumatology, recognizes that very little is invested in it: “In Spain there is no incentive for this aspect of medicine, and we are at the bottom of Europe. In the case of women, this work is, if possible, even more of a minority”.
What is happening with the feminization of certain medical specialties such as Urology or Traumatology?
It was mentioned earlier that the healthcare sector is largely feminized, but not in senior positions or in certain specialties. For medical success to be global, it is necessary for women to be represented in all their diversity in specialized groups and work teams.
At present, there are still specialties that are under-feminized. Although both Dr. Ribal and Dr. Fernandez admit that they have never felt discriminated against or inferior, they have had to work hard in specialties traditionally considered “men’s”. Dr. Fernandez explains that Traumatology has been considered a male specialty because it has always been – and still is – a higher percentage of the male sex, despite the fact that today women who study Medicine are in the majority. “The explanation could be that, being a very manual and very technical specialty, it is preferred by the male sex, like many other manual or technical jobs outside medicine, such as engineering. The fact that strength is needed to perform our interventions is something that I do not consider relevant today, since there are advanced techniques that currently make up for strength,” he explains.
In urology there are two aspects to highlight. One is the dissemination of the specialty itself, where Dr. Ribal considers that the physicians who practice the specialty have an important task to explain it well to society: Urology is not only the treatment of the prostate and the male urogenital system. “It is a mission of dissemination, which makes it be perceived as a specialty designed for men, which is a mistake, and that is where we must disseminate,” he assures. The other aspect is the feminization of the specialty, as we commented. “Surgical specialties, compared to medical specialties, are less feminized. Among surgical specialties, urology is one of the least feminized. In Europe, it is estimated that the ratio of female urologists is 13%, which is really low. This means that we are still living in a very masculinized specialty”, she says.
In this sense, both doctors are calling for this masculinization of their specialties to be reversed, and they assure us that there are many strategies for doing so. Dr. Ribal considers it appropriate “that we know how to campaign for the incorporation of women, that we establish exemplary models, that the faculties understand that the specialty does not understand gender… There are many strategies to be implemented, but it is true that we have a lot of work ahead of us”.
Leadership in Medicine: what is it like to be a leading (female) doctor and receive a Top Doctors Award?
Being a leader in medicine is not easy, but both doctors dreamed of being surgeons (not so much physicians) from a young age. “I always wanted to be a doctor. There are no doctors in the family, but I think that when I was 3 years old I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said doctor, and one of those who operated. At the time of choosing a position, I had several surgeries in my head. When I saw that there was a place at the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona, which has a very important urological school tradition, I saw that it was perfect. Now I always say it in my conferences and to the residents: I have been very lucky because I have chosen the most beautiful specialty that exists”, explains Dr. Ribal. Dr. Ribal explains. Fernandez was also always clear that he wanted to be a surgeon: “I wanted to be a surgeon and I knew that I did not like to treat pathologies in which the patient’s life is at serious risk, nor to give that kind of bad news. For this reason, and because I have always liked manual activities, I decided to specialize in orthopedic surgery”.
But becoming one of the best doctors in Spain in her specialty entails a lot of work and effort. “Practicing my profession entails a high level of sacrifice in terms of time dedicated to care activities (treating pa
tients in consultation and operating room interventions), but also outside these hours to be able to study and, in addition, to carry out research work. In my opinion, this last task is not sufficiently valued in our country because, in addition to not being remunerated (on the contrary, we invest a lot of time and money in it), it is also not taken into account, as it is in other leading RDI countries, such as the United States or other EU countries. Otherwise, I lead a normal life for a woman of my age: I am married and the mother of two children,” explains Dr. Fernandez.
Both doctors are grateful to have received the Top Doctors Award, an award in which doctors from different specialties are voted for by their peers. “I received the award with great enthusiasm and satisfaction for having been supported by my colleagues in my healthcare and research work,” says Dr. Fernández. However, the awards always serve as a wake-up call, according to Dr. Fernandez. Ribal: “Receiving awards is something that always makes you very happy, but I always take them as another wake-up call, in the sense that I tell myself: you have the award but you can’t get comfortable and the only thing you can do is to keep doing better. And I think that’s what awards are for, to show that you have been able to achieve something but that your goal is to improve. For me, awards are always a challenge to continue doing things well and to improve, because there is always a lot to improve and to do”.
Women leaders at Top Doctors: the same commitment, perseverance and sacrifice
At Top Doctors there are more leadership positions among women than men, and the percentage of women in the company is also higher.
In the following video, team leaders from different departments explain how they became team leaders, what their day-to-day work is like and what advice they would give on how to reach positions of responsibility. Cristina Pérez is content director; Mar Fuentes is sales and commercial director; Karla Fortuny is operations manager; and Yolanda Mir is account manager.
They all agree with the doctors: the need for training is important, as is perseverance and commitment. Working hard and giving the best of oneself is what gets you there.
Advice for the new generations
Dr. Ribal, Dr. Fernández and the Top Doctors team leaders agree on the advice they give to the new generations. Regardless of the sector, they share the same gender and live in the same society where there is still work to be done in terms of equal rights and opportunities.
The Top Doctors team leaders advise any woman who wants to reach a position of responsibility to prove her worth, to always give a little more than what is asked of her and to work hard. They emphasize values such as humility, constancy and perseverance in achieving one’s goals, as well as being committed. They give three basic pieces of advice: the first is to train yourself, another is to work hard and the last is to have passion and enthusiasm for what you do. From there, everything will come.
Dr. Ribal emphasizes being able to educate the new generations, be they men or women, boys or girls, outside of any stereotypes. “The new generations have to realize themselves as people, and establish what are the goals that will help them feel happy. Developing a professional career is something that can help, and that should be invested in, and that no barriers should ever be placed thinking of any of the stereotypes that this society may have created, but that the new generations simply believe in their aptitudes, in their attitude, in their capacity for commitment and above all, I think that to do a job well, we should never lose our passion for the job or our vocation for it”.