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This shows that female doctors are systematically disadvantaged in German clinics Report Mainzresearch. They are less likely to be hired and promoted. According to a study, they also experience discrimination if they become pregnant.
“Once you have children, you will no longer be of any use here,” is just one of numerous comments from superiors that female doctors made in a study by the University of Göttingen on gender-based discrimination in hospitals.
In their study, the scientists Margarete Boos and Marie Ritter found that almost 30 percent of female doctors in university hospitals experienced discrimination because of possible or existing motherhood.
“In particular, the severity of the experiences that were reported shows that this culture does nothing against this type of discrimination. Superiors can make such statements without having to fear that they will experience consequences,” says research assistant Marie Ritter.
Discrimination because of pregnancy
Female doctors who realize their desire to have their own family often have a difficult time in hospital operations. Like Eva-Maria Lebtig, who fought with her former employer to be able to continue working in the operating room as a pregnant surgeon.
She managed it, but paid a high price: “I was then bullied in my department. At the beginning it was very subtle. You are no longer greeted in the morning, people roll their eyes when they see you. Information is withheld from you, to care for your patients.”
She thought she could handle it. “But it was very oppressive to be treated like that as a pregnant woman. In retrospect, I think I should have simply been banned from working – that’s what the clinic management wanted, that’s what the head department wanted,” said Eva-Maria Lebtig in her private practice in Berlin for aesthetic surgery. The visceral surgeon withdrew from clinical operations after her experiences. Instead of stomach surgery, she is now taking care of aesthetic changes.
Many female doctors try to avoid the company ban on employment when they are pregnant, because this often turns out to be a career killer: According to a study by the Marburger Bund, 46 percent of all female doctors received a company ban on employment when they became pregnant.
For these women, who are often still in the further training phase, this means that they cannot gain any further qualifications for their specialist, lose out on surgical skills and are relegated to typing work.
“Degradation of skilled workers”
The reform of the Maternity Protection Act in 2018 has not changed this. Although this law requires employers to: After announcing the pregnancy, carry out a risk assessment of the individual workplace and “determine the necessary protective measures in accordance with the risk assessment”. Then, according to the law, “adjustments to working conditions” should be offered.
But for almost half of all pregnant doctors in the clinic, this is not implemented at all or without success. The chairwoman of the Marburg Association, Susanne Johna, criticizes this as “a waste of medical manpower.” Of course, those doctors who want to cut back on pregnancy must be given the opportunity to do so.
“But simply banning those who want to continue working, who have a completely uncomplicated pregnancy, from working is a demotion of skilled workers who are urgently needed. This is bad for patient care and also bad for the career paths of female doctors. That’s how it is cannot be justified by anything.”
Blanket ban can Discrimination be
But no one controls the implementation of the Maternity Protection Act. The responsible Federal Ministry for Family Affairs writes down Report Mainz– Request that you can contact the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency if you are discriminated against in order to receive appropriate advice.
The federal anti-discrimination commissioner, Ferda Ataman, also criticizes the fact that the maternity protection law is being ignored in hospitals to this extent: “If you impose a blanket ban on work because someone becomes pregnant, then that can be discrimination. The law prohibits this form of discrimination. But the fact is that women have to defend themselves against it on their own.”
However, it is not likely that a woman will take her employer to court alone to enforce her rights. “That means we need a law that is easier to apply for women and that enforces maternity protection, pregnancy protection and protection against discrimination.”
Ongoing temporary contracts for female doctors
For the doctors and medical students in the clinic, there is another factor that rarely causes them to rebel: the permanent fixed-term nature of their employment contracts. One Report MainzThe survey collected figures from all university hospitals in Germany, and more than half reported them transparently.
This shows that of a total of 6,118 permanent positions, 3,549 go to male doctors – almost 1,000 fewer, namely 2,568, go to female doctors. The temporary positions, however, are given to women. The number of employees is almost the same for both genders.
Senior physician Maya Niethard is fighting to ensure that pregnancy and motherhood no longer necessarily mean a career break in the future.
Senior physician Maya Niethard launched the “OpidS” (operating during pregnancy) project and is fighting to ensure that pregnancy and motherhood no longer necessarily mean a career break. She has created a so-called positive list in which more than 40 surgical activities are named that are also safe for pregnant women if protective measures are taken.
Shortage of skilled workers is intensifying
“It’s about dangers that arise in general everyday medical life. This affects all doctors, not just surgeons. It is important to take into account the advances in medicine that we have made. The Maternity Protection Act dates back to 1952, and there “A lot has happened in medicine since then,” says tumor orthopedist Niethard.
The majority of human medicine students are women (65 percent). According to calculations by the independent economic institute Wifor, there is already a shortage of 5,000 surgeons on the labor market. The institute predicts a gap of 15,000 by 2035.
If the professional field does not become more attractive for women, their proportion will fall even further in the future – and thus the problem of skilled workers will further worsen.
You can see more about this and other topics today at 9:45 p.m. on the first.