Gender Bias in healthcare

Gender bias in healthcare is extensive. Workers in the healthcare system and patients can hold bias beliefs about one’s gender. The healthcare system can be severely impacted by this and can lead to inadequate treatment or environment.

What is gender bias?

Gender bias is when someone is favorable or prejudice toward one gender over the other. Gender refers to how someone identifies, while someone’s sex is their biological characteristics. That being said both sex and gender can have biases. Most people have biases towards gender whether it is unintentional or intentional and these biases can be caused by assumptions or stereotypes that are held by society. Because of society’s role in inhibiting and fueling power to masculinity, women or people who have feminine characteristics often experience these biases more frequently. In addition, men who do not fit these masculine tendencies can also experience biases because of that.

Gender Bias impact

One area in the healthcare system that gender biases can impact is belief or severity of symptoms. Men often receive the stereotype that they are stronger or can withhold pain better than women. Due to this, in some cases doctors take the men more seriously when they are in pain and see them as brave and strong for enduring it. On the other hand, women who are experiencing pain may be taken less seriously. They are looked at as weak or emotional, which allows doctors to make the assumption that they are being dramatic or emotional and their pain doesn’t have to be something serious.

Another impact that gender bias has on the healthcare system is within its own workplace. There is a dominance of men as doctors and a dominance of women as nurses. This leads to patients or even coworkers making assumptions about one’s role or power of knowledge. Many women experience a shortcoming if they are a doctor and many prejudices that they are not suitable for this role. This goes the same for men who are nurses. They can be looked at as weak for working in a predominately women’s field that may cause people to think lesser of them. To add, as in many other jobs and occupations there is a salary inequity. Although, this inequity is slowly diminishing over years, it is still prevalent in most hospitals.

ending gender bias

Ending this bias is something everyone should partake in and there are many ways to take a step in this direction. First and foremost, it is important for individuals in these intuitions to be aware and informed that gender biases do exist. Providing this knowledge with allow men and women to reflect and notice when and how gender bias can affect someone, which will help them better understand how to prevent it. It is also important for the healthcare system to hold people accountable when they see gender bias taking place. They should be able to recognize it as well as take action if they experience this at their institution. Most importantly, it is crucial to have equitable guidelines and policies. Regardless of a person’s gender, every patient should be treated equally and be taken seriously regarding their symptoms and pain. This will promote a safer environment and also will reduce the risk of downplaying any injuries or illnesses. That also goes with equal pay. It is important to recognize this barrier that women and men differ in their salary to encourage and promote equal pay wages.

Gender bias is a crucial widespread issue, and it is important to address these concerns and take action to stop them. Having gender bias in the healthcare system can disrupt the care being given and can be harmful to all of those involved.