The recent #MeToo movement in social media has brought the important issue of gender-based
violence and harassment in the workplace to the forefront of public attention. As
in other fields, gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment continue to be
a problem in medicine, and gender inequalities are particularly apparent in surgical
specialties. Whereas the #MeToo movement has successfully raised awareness and held
some perpetrators accountable, there have been unintended backlashes, including reluctance
from some male surgeons to mentor female surgeons for fear of false accusations of
sexual misconduct at both the trainee and the faculty levels. Gender-based neglect
is harmful to the career advancement of female surgeons and threatens to continue
to promote gender inequalities in surgery. We propose systems-level strategies to
promote gender equity at the academic-training level and within the field of hand
surgery.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 15, 2020
Accepted:
July 3,
2020
Received:
December 2,
2019
Footnotes
No benefits in any form have been received or will be received related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. All rights reserved.
