Gender Bias Found in Regional Surgery Survey

Women surgeons were more often perceived as targets of workplace discrimination despite similar perceived clinical judgment and surgical skill.

By
Andrea Surnit
May 22, 2026
4 min

MDSpire News

Objective:

To assess perceptions of gender discrimination among surgeons in the Anglophone Caribbean.

Key Findings:

64% of respondents observed discrimination against women surgeons, while only 4% reported discrimination against men surgeons.
No statistically significant gender-based differences were found in clinical judgment or surgical skill.
47% of respondents perceived women surgeons as more thorough compared to 2% for men.
60% of respondents perceived women surgeons as better in task completion compared to 24% for men.

Interpretation:

The findings indicate perceptions of gender bias in the surgical community, although the study did not directly measure implicit bias or establish causality.

Limitations:

Survey-based design relying on subjective perceptions rather than objective clinical outcomes.
Absence of validated implicit-bias assessment tools.
Respondent pool had more men than women, potentially influencing findings.
Limited generalizability due to the study being confined to a single regional professional association.