Gender and the pre-clinical experiences of female medical students: a taxonomy

Context The number of women entering medical school has increased substantially in recent years. However, practising female doctors still report gender-associated professional challenges. We focused on female medical students to characterise how gender shapes the range of their professional experiences during the pre-clinical years of medical school. Methods We conducted a qualitative study from 2006 to 2007 using in-depth interviews with 12 Year 3 female medical students at a private New England medical school who had completed their pre-clinical years of training. All transcripts were analysed using a grounded theory approach; the code structure was developed through a process of inductive reasoning. Coding team members coded all transcripts line by line, using a constant comparative method of analysis. Results The resulting taxonomy identifies three domains that capture the recurrent gender-associated experiences of our participants: (i) observations of the effect of gender on pre-clinical educational experiences through instructor, student and institutional behaviour; (ii) responses to observations of gender-based occurrences in terms of emotional reactions and strategic responses, and (iii) gender-associated expectations for the clinical years and beyond brought about by a heightened awareness of gender. Participants reported subtle as well as overt gender-based experiences and emotional consequences of both. Conclusions Female medical students continue to report numerous gender-based experiences during their pre-clinical training. Such experiences have both emotional and educational consequences and institutions should develop multifaceted approaches to address the full spectrum of gender-based experiences that affect medical students.