What Is the Treatment for Misogyny in Healthcare?

Photo by pina messina on Unsplash

Ambulances blared their sirens outside. Inside, the wails of agony co-mingled with the sounds of new life arriving on earth. Red and green lights alternated outside the operation theater.

This was the routine chaos of the emergency department in a government hospital.

At 7:45 am, I began my 5-minute walk to the surgery ward. I looked forward to another day full of hope and expectations of new experiences and achievements. I entered the ward and moved toward my assigned beds. I was on cloud nine and why shouldn’t I be?

This was all a dream come true for me. It was my first day of specializing as a surgeon. So, with an extra bounce in my step, I started my duty.

But this euphoria only lasted for one week. I was quickly introduced to the inherent sexism in healthcare. Of course gender inequality is rampant in Pakistan, but I had foolishly thought that this problem would not infiltrate a prestigious field like medicine.

How wrong I was.

I realized that regardless of my many years of education followed by years of experience, I would still be overlooked and belittled. Patients and their attendants often asked me for a baray (senior-male) doctor even though I was fully qualified to oversee their treatment. Male doctors with less experience…