We thank Rose Hatala, Shirley Epstein and Sachin Pendharkar for their letters, as well as our colleagues who were prompted by our commentary1 to share with us their experiences of being a woman in medicine. We agree with Hatala and Pendharkar that the academic structure needs to evolve and that multiple pathways ought to be available to allow both women and men to be successful as medical school faculty. We also agree that the definition of success needs to be broadened. Curricula that address issues of gender, culture and socioeconomics in health and medicine may help future physicians to better deal with the complex relationships that they will certainly encounter in their training and practice, whether in the community or in academia. We echo Hatala's call for understanding and for rooting out the cultural biases that lead to discrimination. In many cases discrimination has become increasingly subtle, although a number of women physicians shared appalling experiences of outright harassment. We admire their courage, persistence and difficult choices. Finally, Epstein's reflections on her career resonated with us. Of course, there will always be things that could have been done differently, but when faced with difficult choices, we should try to be fair to ourselves.
Anita Palepu Assistant Professor St. Paul's Hospital University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC
Carol Herbert Dean Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry University of Western Ontario London, Ont.
Reference
- 1.↵