Workplace discrimination common among liver doctors

Dr. Lauren Feld, fellow (Gastroenterology) presented her results at the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease this month. The study was conducted through the AASLD Women’s Initiatives Committee.

Among the key findings:

• 75% of women and 37% of men report workplace discrimination.
• Twice as many women as men say they are not included in administrative decision-making.
• More than 40% of women and 7.5% of men report being treated disrespectfully from nursing or support staff. Feld said in addition to impacting hepatologists personally, tensions can affect the quality of patient care.
• About 40% of women and 13% of men report receiving unequal pay. Usually, women are just advised to “negotiate harder,” Feld notes. “If the starting offer is different, or if women are viewed more negatively when they negotiate, then we should also be addressing the underlying systematic inequality.”
• About a quarter of women say they were held to higher standards of performance than their peers.
• 17% of women feel they are not fairly considered for promotions or senior management positions.
   

   

   

Read the story from UW Medicine Newsroom.