Study finds female surgeons less likely to have kids
Female surgeons enjoy their specialty and would choose it again, but they are much less likely to have children than male surgeons, a nationwide survey conducted by a UC Davis doctor found.
"I was surprised by the large difference in parenting – women were five times less likely to have children," said Dr. Kathrin Troppmann, who oversees medical students during their surgical training.
Troppmann isn't sure whether surgery attracts women who are less interested in having families, or whether women who plan to be surgeons delay having babies during their lengthy training, then have trouble conceiving.
Her study does indicate that maternity leave and part-time work schedules are important to female surgeons and should be discussed by hospitals and professional groups, she said.
Surgery, long seen by medical students as a "hard core," rigid specialty, is still about 85 percent male, Troppmann said, but that is beginning to change.
The residency programs that train the next generation of surgeons are attracting more women, and around the country nearly 30 percent of surgical residents are female, she said.
"As more women are entering, we're more representative of the population we're serving. It's been a very important change," she said.
Her survey, published in the July edition of the Annals of Surgery, captured the views of nearly 900 surgeons.
Along with the child gap, male and female surgeons also had different home situations, the survey found. While most were married, more than half the male surgeons had spouses who did not work outside the home. Fewer than 10 percent of the women did.
It takes "good support" to be a surgeon and raise children, Troppman said, adding that she was speaking from experience.
She and her husband, who is also a surgeon, have a daughter about to turn 1 and a son who soon will be 3. UC Davis, she said, has been "incredibly supportive of my parenting."
Like many of those she surveyed, Troppmann started her family relatively late. She is 44.