Challenges faced by lady surgeons during professional progress in Pakistan

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the professional challenges faced by lady surgeons in Pakistan. This qualitative exploratory phenomenological study was conducted from April 2019 to June 2019. Four lady surgeons participated in in-depth interviews, based on four questions: challenges during training; perceptions of gender-based professional treatment; perceptions of relationships with peers; and perception of gender on the quality of training. Four main themes with ten sub-themes were developed. Family support is identified as major facilitating factor. Participants experienced gender-based discrimination at workplace, long exhausting duty hours with lack of quality time for their families and social gatherings. With the passage of time, these problems diminished as the surgeons gained a work-life balance with their motivation.