Gender Disparities in Job Satisfaction in Academic Plastic Surgery
Brandon T. Smith, MS1, Xiao Zhu, BA1, Francesco M. Egro, MBChB, MSc, MRCS1, Jordan E. Fishman, MD, MPH1, Joseph E. Losee, MD2, Vu T. Nguyen, MD1, John H. Pang, MD3.
1University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 2Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC,, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 3Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
BACKGROUND: Gender inequalities plastic surgery are well known. However, no studies to date have evaluated the impact of these disparities on job satisfaction in the field. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate if the effects of gender impact job satisfaction among plastic surgery practitioners.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a 15-question survey sent on November 2017 to evaluate gender disparities in job satisfaction among US academic plastic surgery faculty, residents, and fellows. Surveyed factors included job satisfaction (five items on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1-“delighted” to 7-“terrible”), as well as demographic and training background.
RESULTS: A total of 349 responses from 33 different states were obtained. Women reported significantly less satisfaction with their work environment (female=2.69, male=2.35, difference=0.35, p=0.022), and work resources (female=2.53, male=2.19, difference=0.33, p=0.016) than their male colleagues. On sub-group analysis, gender differences in dissatisfaction with work environment were reported among women in a long-term relationship (female=2.87, male=2.36, difference=0.51, p=0.005), who were attendings (female=3.07, male=2.33, difference=0.74, p=0.005), and who were from the West (female=2.89, male=2.29, difference=0.69, p=0.030). Further gender disparities in job satisfaction were identified on sub-group analysis based on age, race, relationship status, level of training, residency type, academic position, leadership position, and region.
CONCLUSIONS:
Significant differences in job satisfaction between male and female plastic surgeons exist, extending to specific aspects of the workplace, and disproportionately affecting certain women. Overall, understanding who these job satisfaction disparities affect and why they occur is an important step towards improving representation in the field.
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