“Walking on eggshells”: experiences of underrepresented women in medical training

INTRODUCTION: Medicine remains an inequitable profession for women. Challenges are compounded for underrepresented women in medicine (UWiM), yet the complex features of underrepresentation and how they influence women’s career paths remain underexplored. This qualitative study examined the experiences of trainees self-identifying as UWiM, including how navigating underrepresentation influenced their envisioned career paths. METHODS: Ten UWiM family medicine trainees from one Canadian institution participated in semi-structured group interviews. Thematic analysis of the data was informed by feminist epistemology and unfolded during an iterative process of data familiarization, coding, and theme generation. RESULTS: Participants identified as UWiM based on visible and invisible identity markers. All participants experienced discrimination and “otherness”, but experiences differed based on how identities intersected. Participants spent considerable energy anticipating discrimination, navigating otherness, and assuming protective behaviours against real and perceived threats. Both altruism and a desire for personal safety and inclusion influenced their envisioned careers serving marginalized populations and mentoring underrepresented trainees. DISCUSSION: Equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives in medical education risk being of little value without a comprehensive and intersectional understanding of the visible and invisible identities of underrepresented trainees. UWiM trainees’ accounts suggest that they experience significant identity dissonance that may result in unintended consequences if left unaddressed. Our study generated the critical awareness required for medical educators and institutions to examine their biases and meet their obligation of creating a safer and more equitable environment for UWiM trainees. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version of this article (10.1007/s40037-022-00729-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.