The scale of gender inequality in medicine is significant and the impact of this on the health system is “profoundly negative”, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has warned.

It recently hosted a conference on gender equality in medicine during which it insisted that this issue is contributing to the Government’s failure to recruit and retain doctors in Ireland.

Speaking at the conference, Dr Madeleine Ní Dhálaigh, a member of the IMO GP Committee, explained that females are disproportionately affected in the health system by various issues and this is having a knock-on impact on the provision of care.

“At a time when our health system is chronically understaffed, we need to be doing everything we can to both recruit doctors and retain those already working in the system. We know from an IMO survey that female doctors compare poorly to their male counterparts when it comes to issues including childcare, gender discrimination and gender-based harassment,” she commented.

The IMO’s survey on gender equality revealed that female doctors are much more likely to reduce their hours to part-time to care for children (36%) compared to men (7%). They are also much more likely to take unpaid leave to care for children (26%) compared to men (7%).

Almost half of female doctors (47%) with children say they are mainly or fully responsible for childcare within their family compared to 6% of male doctors.

Meanwhile, 54% of female doctors say they have experienced gender-based harassment compared with 12% of male doctors.

Furthermore, 46% of female doctors say they have been relegated to undertaking fewer or more mundane tasks compared to 10% of male doctors.

“How can we expect female doctors to work in our health system if they are being treated this way? This is having a profoundly negative effect on the health system and patients are losing out because of it,” Dr Ní Dhálaigh insisted.

She recommended the following steps to ease the burden on females in medicine:

·      Family-friendly work options to improve flexibility

·      Ensuing all doctors are aware of their parental rights

·      The promotion of female leadership in medicine

·      The modernisation of medical training to reflect working realities

·      A culture change.

The conference, ‘Gender Equality in Medicine’, was held in Dublin on February 18.