I
what’s ironic about indian docs calling for diversity because specialty spots are zero sum game. over represented minorities like Indians and Asians would have to be reduced to make way for under represented minorities. Either these Indian women who are pushing for diversity are self hating or they missapropriated their darker skin tone into believing they share a common history of oppression.
And here is the fearless leaders response. Bravo. No empathy whatsoever in her messages
Ahh... what do we expect from those who have nothing to lose who sit on high in the ivory tower complaining about injustice writing NEJM articles in their "oppression" looking down at us?
It's easy to talk with no skin in the game and to make up stories that run counter to reality. Yes, there are problems, but make believe stories end up, as I have been saying, hurting real flesh and blood people. We have to talk about these issues truthfully to come up with real solutions to these real problems. All the yelling about women's this and that by Jagsi et al looking for fake problems made them totally oblivious to these real issues that ended hurting a real woman. Yes, there are problems women uniquely have and we need to address those, not pretend it is mostly because of racism and misogyny.
I will re-iterate here what
@residentwhocuries_2019 noted
"
This is an employment crisis for me and for many others. But more importantly,
it's a women's issue. And what I came on here to rant about is that
NOT ONE SINGLE HIGH PROFILE RADONC WOMAN has said anything about this. Not Reshma Jagsi, Malika Siker, Fumiko Chino... none of the twitter celebs have touched this with a ten foot pole. When they have, they have largely supported getting more women and minorities into the field.
REALLY?! MORE?! So they can end up jobless and desperate like me five years from now?!
So what I really came on here to say, in addition to sharing this story, is to say that the #womenwhocurie thing is a farce.
THERE IS ONLY ONE "WOMEN'S ISSUE" IN THIS FIELD, and it is RESIDENCY EXPANSION. Women are
more likely than men to have geographically-restricted spouses. This is not controversial. I can see this in my own program: several of the male residents I've known were married to NPs or PAs, one stay-at-home mom, one to another doc. They could pretty much move anywhere they wanted and cast a job search net across the whole country. But ALL of the female residents I know (in radonc or elsewhere) are married either to other doctors (they are probably the most flexible) or to lawyers/consultants/financiers. These people, as does my husband, need to be in big cities to do their work.
AS THE JOB MARKET TIGHTENS IT WILL CONTINUE TO DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECT WOMEN. And minorities too, because I don't know many POCs who want to go work in rural appalachia.
So here I am - a living embodiment of why radonc is a terrible field for many women (or men with geographically restricted spouses - I know there are plenty of you out there too
). But when I go to some of these women's meetings I don't hear a peep about it. All we talk about is things that don't matter. I've never met anyone in power in this field who was the least bit sexist to me, or who didn't go above and beyond to mentor me (male or female). People call me Dr. X - and when they don't, it doesn't harm me in the least, and I'm not at all offended by it.
BUT I WANT A JOB. And the idea that all I need is a good pep talk and a hashtag is, to be frank, demeaning and a bit sexist. "