Five National University Hospitals Have Had '0' Female Orthopedic Residents for 11 Years

10 National University Hospitals Female Specialist Ratio Orthopedics 2.8%
Kwon Insuk "Deprived of Medical Skill Learning Opportunities Due to Gender"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] It has been revealed that the proportion of female residents in orthopedic surgery at national university hospitals is only 2.8%.

On the 6th, Kwon In-sook, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, received data titled 'Status of Residents by Specialty at National University Hospitals' from 10 national university hospitals nationwide. According to the data, certain specialties such as orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, and plastic surgery hardly recruit female residents.

According to the data analyzed by the lawmaker's office, the proportion of female residents in 10 national university hospitals nationwide was confirmed to be low in the following order: orthopedic surgery 2.8%, urology 3.9%, neurosurgery 5.8%, plastic surgery 12.5%, and rehabilitation medicine 28.6%.

In the case of orthopedic surgery, over 11 years, the cumulative number of residents in orthopedic surgery at 10 national universities reached 1,251, but the number of female residents was only 35. Moreover, it was confirmed that five hospitals?Pusan National University, Kangwon National University, Chungbuk National University, Kyungpook National University, and Jeju National University Hospital?did not recruit a single orthopedic surgery resident in 11 years. Among these, Pusan National University, Kangwon National University, and Kyungpook National University hospitals did not recruit not only residents but also female specialists and fellows during the 11 years.

In neurosurgery, the cumulative number of residents over 11 years was 634, of which only 37 were female, accounting for just 5.8%. Five hospitals?Pusan National University, Chungbuk National University, Chungnam National University, Jeonbuk National University, and Jeonnam National University?did not recruit a single female resident. Plastic surgery also had a female resident ratio of only 12.5%, and Jeonnam National University, Kyungpook National University, and Jeju National University hospitals had zero female plastic surgery residents over 11 years.

Among the five specialties analyzed, rehabilitation medicine had the highest proportion of female residents at 28.6%, with Pusan National University at 46.6%, the highest, while Chungbuk National University had zero female residents. A notable point in rehabilitation medicine is that although the number of residents at Kyungpook National University Hospital generally remained almost unchanged, the number of residents in rehabilitation medicine increased from 4 in 2010 to 9 in 2020, but the number of female residents remained fixed at 0 or 1 each year.

Kwon In-sook, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Provided by the Office of the Member)

Gender discrimination in the medical field has been confirmed in several surveys. According to a 2018 survey on 'Gender Equality Status in the Medical Field' conducted by the Korean Women Doctors Association targeting 1,174 male and female doctors, 4 out of 10 doctors (39.7%) responded that they experienced gender discrimination from the stage of choosing their specialty (resident selection). By gender, 52.6% (394) of women and 16.9% (72) of men reported experiencing gender discrimination during resident selection.

Also, according to the 'Human Rights Status Survey of Medical Students' conducted in 2018 by the Institute of Human Rights Medicine and the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, 619 respondents (35.1% of the total 1,763 respondents) reported hearing that there would be restrictions on specialty choice due to gender or being forced to do gender-stereotyped tasks such as coffee errands. Among them, 58.7% (436) were women and 17.7% (180) were men, indicating that women’s experience of restrictions and discrimination in specialty and job selection was 3.3 times higher than that of men.

Assemblywoman Kwon In-sook pointed out, "Gender discrimination in the medical field is severe, including being deprived of opportunities to learn medical skills such as being restricted from patient examinations or observation opportunities due to gender, and urgent measures are needed."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.