Karriärvägar och karriärmönster bland disputerade läkare och medicinare

Sammanfattning: Career paths in academic medicineBackground: women physicians were underrepresented in senior academic positions at medical faculties in Sweden during the last century.Aim: the aim of this thesis is to map gender equality in the postdoctoral careers of physicians. Methods: a triangulation of methods was obtained by performing three studies based on quantitative and qualitative data, namely descriptive statistics regarding the academic positions of graduates from all medical departments in Sweden, as well as a life history questionnaire, and in-depth interviews with 38 selected respondents. Results: in three consecutive cohorts, there were no gender differences in the academic positions in relation to the number of female and male graduates. These results applied to all medical departments in Sweden, with the exception of female physicians, who had graduated from pre-clinical departments at the Karolinska Institute. These results were also found in the second study. Male physicians more often, and at a younger age, held positions as Senior Physicians at university hospitals. Women physicians had two careers, one as a scientist and the other as a physician, whilst some men dropped out from medical training and concentrated on a career in pre-clinical research. In the third study, it was found that, when collaboration with a former supervisor continued after graduation, males were viewed as equal partners, whereas females were viewed as dependent and in need of support. The in-depth interviews also indicated that female physicians tried to adapt to a traditional scientific organisation created by men, for men, which was reflected in the interviews with both the female and male respondents. Conclusions: in Sweden, there is no 'leaky pipeline' in academic medicine after graduation. Gender equality is reached, but women conform to existing male norms, and in the future, there is a risk that this competent group of women will become stressed and burnt out.