PERCEPTION OF HARASSMENT AMONG FEMALE SURGEONS

INTRODUCTION: the attraction of women by Surgery has always existed. Although Surgery has been considered a specialty for men, several women chose it, despite gender bias issues that have persisted over many years. Several obstacles have impacted the practice of women surgeons, leading them to abandon the profession, while others, perhaps bearers of a stronger spirit, managed to overcome them, and won. OBJECTIVE: to assess the rates of perception of harassment against female surgeons as a cause of difficulty and negative feelings related to the specialty. METHODS: we conducted a quantitative and qualitative (personal accounts) research through a questionnaire via Google Forms® sent to all women surgeons registered in the Brazilian College of Surgeons and in a WhatsApp women surgeons’ groups. The qualitative analysis was made with the Wordle® app. RESULTS: from 821 questionnaires sent, we obtained 232 responses (28.2%). Harassment perception during training was 49.1% (n=114). From the women surgeons who perceived harassment, 56.1% reported having undergone different training than expected, with statistical significance (p<0.001). The question of having been treated differently due to being a woman also had an impact on harassment perception (77.2% harassed vs 47.5%; p<0.001). Physical (42.1% vs 6.8%) and emotional (92.1% vs 39.8%) threats were also different between groups. CONCLUSION: women surgeons still report great harassment perception, both moral and sexual, which impacts their feelings about the specialty.