COM Outlook Winter 2021

16 | DR. KIRAN C. PATEL COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE BY MARA SEAT gender bias entering medical school W hile I was pursuing my undergraduate degree at the University of Florida (UF), I worked as a server in a restaurant, which is where I realized there are many stereotypes and judgments associat- ed with working as a waitress. I was labeled as underprivileged and poor, I wasn’t intelligent enough for a “real” career, or I was only relying on my outward appearance in order to make money. A fact I commonly shared about myself with the patrons was that I was a full-time UF student majoring in chemistry who was graduating with honors. People would look at me like, “You’re a server, and you’re smart?” or like I was lying to them. Those types of reactions were some of the most upsetting aspects of the job, which I loved, because it gave me a chance to really connect with a variety of people and learn about the importance of customer service and patience—reinforcing my belief that I can be a very respectful and understanding physician in the future. However, I really did not appreci- ate the stigma I experienced as a result of my job. The most frustrat- ing aspect of being a server was the reaction I received whenever I shared that I was going to become a physician. I had several people laugh in my face or look surprised when I divulged my career goal. For example, a middle-aged man came in by himself one day and sat at one of my tables. He began asking about my life and shared that he was a family physician. I excitedly remarked that I had been accepted into medical school. His response was, “Oh, where are you going to nursing school?” I had already received my medical school acceptance letter, so it felt enormously annoying that a male physician couldn’t believe a woman working as a server in a restaurant was going to become a doctor and not a nurse, which in his mind was evidently the highest level someone like me could achieve. I have the most gratitude and respect toward nurses, as my grandmother was one, and two of my best friends are nurses. But it felt like a punch in my gut when this man assumed I meant nursing school and not medical school. He merely laughed it off and continued working on his phone while I contemplated why he would laugh about me becoming a doctor. In the past, the practice of medicine was male dominated. Today, however, in medical schools around the United States, women outnumber the men enrolled in many programs. I hope that one day, society views male and female physicians as equal, that gender bias will be nonexistent, and that physicians will be evaluated based upon their skills and knowledge—and not their gender or how they appear. It is frustrating to be judged based on how you look and your work environment and not who you are as an individual—or what you may be capable of accomplish- ing one day. Mara Seat is a second-year KPCOM student.