title: The erasure of gender in academic surgery: a qualitative study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The number of women in surgery has steadily increased, yet their numbers in academic surgery positions and in high-ranking leadership roles remain low. To create strategies to address and improve this problem, it is essential to examine how gender plays into the advancement of a woman's career in academic surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Focus group (1) and one-on-one qualitative interviews (8) were conducted with women academic surgeons from various subspecialties in a large university setting. Interviews examined women surgeons' accounts of their experiences as women in surgery. Audio-recorded data were transcribed verbatim and coded thematically. NVivo10 software was used for cross-referencing of data and categorization of data into themes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Focus group data suggested that gender discrimination was pervasive in academic surgery. However, in interviews, most interviewees strongly disavowed the possibility that their gender had any bearing on their professional lives. These surgeons attempted to distance themselves from the possibility of discrimination by suggesting that differences in men and women surgeons' experiences are due to personality issues and personal choices. However, their narratives highlighted deep contradiction; they both affirmed and denied the relevance of gender for their experience as surgeons.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As overt acts of discrimination become less acceptable in society, it does not necessarily disappear but rather manifests itself in covert forms. By disavowing and distancing themselves from discrimination, these women exposed the degree to which these issues continue to be pervasive in surgery. Women surgeons' ability to both identify and resist discrimination was hobbled by narratives of individualism, gender equality, and normative ideas of gender difference.
authors.affiliation: Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Health Sciences Building, 155 College Street, 6th Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 3M7, Canada; Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Family and Community Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: Fiona.webster@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.affiliation: Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Health Sciences Building, 155 College Street, 6th Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 3M7, Canada.
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rice
authors.affiliation: Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Health Sciences Building, 155 College Street, 6th Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 3M7, Canada.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Christian
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Natashia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Seemann
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Baxter
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Carol-Anne
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Moulton
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Tulin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cil
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D002170:Canada; D002321:Career Choice; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010822:Physicians, Women; D036301:Qualitative Research; D063507:Sexism; D066231:Surgeons
keywords: Gender discrimination; Qualitative; Surgery