Study Population
Information about Korean physicians was obtained through the databases of the Korean Medical Women’s Association (2,391 persons), and the Korean Intern Resident Association (10,370 persons). The e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers of members who agreed to receive information from their respective associations were obtained after confidentiality was assured. All participants gave their informed consent in writing. The Myongji Hospital Institutional Review Board (MJH 2018-12-003) approved this study. In order to encourage participation in the survey, the survey was uploaded on the homepage of the Korea Medical Women's Association and the Korean Intern Resident Association websites. In addition, the survey link was sent regularly via emails and text messages to members, and relevant articles from the Korean Doctors’ Weekly were promoted. The period of the online survey was two months from December 2018 to January 2019.
Variables
The questionnaire was designed to elicit the respondents’ basic information, including age and gender, their workplace (clinic, hospitals, etc.), position in the medical institution (resident, fellow, professor, paid doctor in hospital, employed in clinic, others), major department (internal medicine, surgery, others), marital status, and the number of children. The department of internal medicine included internal medicine, pediatrics, neurology, psychiatry, dermatology, rehabilitation, and family medicine. The department of surgery included urology, obstetrics/gynecology, plastic surgery, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, surgery, otorhinolaryngology,
orthopedics, and thoracic surgery. The other department category included anesthesiology, radiation oncology, radiology, emergency medicine, diagnostic medicine, pathology, and nuclear medicine. Medical institution was classified into tertiary hospital, secondary hospital, hospital, clinic, and others. Marital status was classified as “agree,” “no,” and others.
Questionnaire development and survey process
The survey questions were drafted based on consultations with advisors from the Korean Institute for Gender Equity, Promotion, and Education and the Korean Women’s Development Institute, and existing research about gender equity in the medical field. The questionnaire included questions on gender equity-related issues encountered in the process of cultivation doctors and maintaining professionalism. The questionnaire included questions covering the whole process from entry into the resident program to appointment of fellows, and professors, employment in medical institutions, promotion, salary negotiation, and experience in the decision-making process at medical institutions (Table 1). The following is an example of the questions about gender discrimination experiences: “Did you experience gender inequity while applying for the resident program?” (The questions were designed to receive a “agree,” “disagree,” or “I don’t know” answer). Aside from the resident selection program, the questions about application for fellowship, application for professorship, employment, promotion, salary negotiations, and decision-making were asked only to specialists who have finished the resident program. A Likert rating scale (a 5-point scale from 1 to 5) was applied to the questions on “the reasons why women doctors experience gender inequity in the medical profession” and “efforts to improve gender inequity in medicine.”
Data analysis
Descriptive statistical analyses were performed on the results of the survey. The mean value and standard deviation of the continuous variables and the median and standard deviation of the categorical variables were calculated. A statistical analysis of the two groups (women and men) was conducted with Student’s t-tests and chi-square tests. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. The SAS 9.4 statistical software (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC), was used in this study.