International journal of current research and review | 2021
A Study of the Influence of Sex Stereotyping on Choices of Postgraduate Medical Students
Abstract
Introduction: Sex-based occupational segregation and sex stereotyping have been found to exist all over the world including in the medical field. This paper investigated if sex-based occupational segregation exists among post-graduate medical students in the selection of their specialisation in Tamil Nadu (which is a medical tourism hub), analysed sex stereotyping among these students and its effect on perceived earning capacity. Objective: To investigate if sex-based occupational segregation exists in different medical specialisations based on speciality choices of postgraduate students. To study if sex stereotyping exists among medical students. To study how this bias influences the expected earning capacity of young medical professionals. Methods Secondary data regarding student enrollment was collected from two out of the three government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu and the chi-square test was performed to study if there was any significant association between sex and speciality choice. Questionnaires were distributed to the students and the different specialities were divided into three categories – Surgical Speciality Clinical (MSC), Medical Speciality Clinical (MDC) and Medical Speciality Non-Clinical (MDNC). Interviews were also conducted. This was done to investigate if sex stereotyping exists. Results: It was found that there existed significantly greater participation of men in the first category (P=0.0001) and significantly greater participation of women in the third category (P=0.001). Respondents believed that men were better suited for specialisations such as orthopaedics for reasons such as better perceived skill while women were better suited for dermatology and gynaecology due to patient preference. Participants also believed that higher incomes should be a greater determining factor in the choice of specialisations for men than for women. Conclusion: The researcher thus concludes that occupational segregation based on sex exists among postgraduate medical students in Tamil Nadu and that sex stereotyping plays an important role in this.