Medical Student Perspectives on Gender Concordant and Gender Discordant Mentorship

Introduction: Gender bias in mentorship and collaboration on scholarly work has been demonstrated. Less than 10% of faculty neurosurgeons are female which limits access to gender concordant mentorship for female medical students. The current study presents medical student perspectives on the impact of gender in professional pursuits and opinions about gender concordant and gender discordant mentorship.

Methods: An electronic survey was distributed to 73 medical student participants of a neurosurgery research group with a response rate of 57%. Respondents included 15 male and 27 female medical students.

Results: Female students were more likely to anticipate a negative impact of their gender on access to research opportunities (p=0.017), their colleagues’ and patients’ perception of their competence (p < 0.0001), promotion to leadership roles (p < 0.0001), and career success (p < 0.01). Of 27 female respondents, 62% agreed that “it is easier to connect with people of the same gender” and 66% agreed that “gender concordant mentors are better able to understand and advise on the specific challenges [they] may face.” Significantly fewer male respondents agreed with the above statements (26%, 20%; p< 0.005). Nonetheless, a minority of female (33%) and male (13%) students indicated a preference for gender concordant mentors.

Conclusion : Female medical students tend to anticipate greater impact of their gender on various aspects of their career success than male students. Female medical students also have a greater tendency to identify benefits of gender concordant mentorship; however, the majority of female and male medical students perceive a benefit in any mentorship, regardless of gender. Lack of available female mentors is not an inherent barrier to mentorship for female medical students. Targeted efforts should be made to overcome real and perceived barriers to gender discordant mentorship to increase overall access to mentorship for women in male dominated fields.