Gender Discrimination and Mental Health Among Health Care Workers: Findings from a Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Gender discrimination among healthcare workers (HCWs) negatively impacts their mental health and career development; however, few studies have explored how experiences of gender discrimination change during times of health system strain. Methods: This survey-based study assesses the associations between gender discrimination and four stress-related mental health outcomes (posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and burnout), as well as the qualitative experiences of gender discrimination in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Among women, increased gender discrimination was associated with heightened symptoms of posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and burnout after adjusting for demographics and pandemic-related stressors; however, among men, increased gender discrimination was only associated with heightened symptoms of depression. Using thematic analysis, we identified five themes that describe experiences of gender discrimination faced by women in healthcare, including differential valuing of work and contributions, gendered roles and assumptions about roles, maternal discrimination, objectification, and "old boys club." We also identified two themes describing how men perceived gender discrimination, including instances of symbolic discrimination and woman provider preference. Conclusion: These findings suggest that experiences of gender discrimination persist during times of health system strain and negatively impact women HCWs' mental health.

Overcoming the gender bias in ecology and evolution: is the double-anonymized peer review an effective pathway over time?

Male researchers dominate scientific production in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). However, potential mechanisms to avoid this gender imbalance remain poorly explored in STEM, including ecology and evolution areas. In the last decades, changes in the peer-review process towards double-anonymized (DA) have increased among ecology and evolution (EcoEvo) journals. Using comprehensive data on articles from 18 selected EcoEvo journals with an impact factor >1, we tested the effect of the DA peer-review process in female-leading (i.e., first and senior authors) articles. We tested whether the representation of female-leading authors differs between double and single-anonymized (SA) peer-reviewed journals. Also, we tested if the adoption of the DA by previous SA journals has increased the representativeness of female-leading authors over time. We found that publications led by female authors did not differ between DA and SA journals. Moreover, female-leading articles did not increase after changes from SA to DA peer-review. Tackling female underrepresentation in science is a complex task requiring many interventions. Still, our results highlight that adopting the DA peer-review system alone could be insufficient in fostering gender equality in EcoEvo scientific publications. Ecologists and evolutionists understand how diversity is important to ecosystems' resilience in facing environmental changes. The question remaining is: why is it so difficult to promote and keep this "diversity" in addition to equity and inclusion in the academic environment? We thus argue that all scientists, mentors, and research centers must be engaged in promoting solutions to gender bias by fostering diversity, inclusion, and affirmative measures.

Narratives of Women and Gender Relations in Chinese COVID-19 Frontline Reports in 2020.

This article analyzes the representation of women in Chinese news reports about COVID-19 in order to examine the consequences of the pandemic on gender relations in China. It draws on the linguistic framework of appraisal theory for identifying evaluative language and takes Chinese news reports on the COVID-19 frontline in 2020 as the major data sources. The study finds that while the narrative about women's capacity in combating the virus, resolution in the face of adversity, and sense of responsibility help build a shared feeling of community to reconstruct the disturbed social order, the descriptions about the evaluation and feelings of female characters lead to undesirable outcomes in gender relations in China. Specifically, the newspapers' reports on COVID-19 mainly focus on group interests and accomplishments and overlook women's contributions in containing the pandemic. Meanwhile, the news reports devoted to constructing model female characters that highlight transcendent qualities place considerable pressure on everyday women. Furthermore, journalists tend to infuse their reports with gender bias when depicting women, including aesthetic appreciation of appearance and a focus on emotional reactions and domestic roles, which hinders the professional identity of women. This article sheds light on gender relations in China amid the pandemic, as well as the study of gender equality in media discourse.

Lifesaving skills training in schools - A qualitative study to explore students, teachers, and parent's perceived opportunities and challenges.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to explore the perception of teachers, parents and students' regarding implementation of a school-based lifesaving skills program and help predict potential barriers and solutions. METHODS: This qualitative exploratory study was conducted in Karachi, Pakistan, from December 2020- to October 2021. We included students, teachers, and parents of secondary (grades VIII, IX, and X) and higher secondary level students (grades XI and XII) in Karachi, Pakistan's public and private schools and colleges. We selected one public, two semi-private, and two private schools. We recruited students, teachers, and parents through convenience sampling. We conducted fifteen focus group discussions (FGDs) with the students, six FGDs with the teachers, and eighteen in-depth interviews (IDIs) with parents. We transcribed the data from audio recordings and translated it into the English language. Finally, we manually analyzed the data using thematic analyses. RESULTS: This study found that bystanders' main barriers to performing lifesaving skills are lack of knowledge, fear of legal involvement, fear of hurting the patient by incorrect technique, lack of empathy among community stakeholders, and gender bias. However, the participants had a positive and supportive attitude toward implementing lifesaving skills training in schools. They suggested starting student training in the early teenage years, preferred medical staff as trainers, and suggested frequent small sessions in English/Urdu both or Urdu language and training via theory and practical hands-on drills. Furthermore, the training was proposed to be integrated into the school curriculum to make it sustainable. Finally, the government needs to support the program and make the legal environment more conducive for bystanders. CONCLUSION: This study identified the significant barriers to performing lifesaving skills in an emergency in a low- and middle-income country (LMIC). The participants supported implementing a national lifesaving skills program in schools and colleges. However, the participants expressed that support is needed by the government for sustainability, integrating lifesaving skills into the school curriculum, providing legal support to the bystanders, and creating awareness among the general public.

A Gender-Based and Quasi-Experimental Study of the Catastrophic and Impoverishing Health-Care Expenditures in Mexican Households with Elderly Members, 2000-2020.

Latin America has experienced a rise in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) which is having repercussions on the structuring of healthcare delivery and social protection for vulnerable populations. We examined catastrophic (CHE) and excessive (EHE, impoverishing and/or catastrophic) health care expenditures in Mexican households with and without elderly members (≥65 years), by gender of head of the households, during 2000-2020. We analyzed pooled cross-sectional data for 380,509 households from eleven rounds of the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey. Male- and female-headed households (MHHs and FHHs) were matched using propensity scores to control for gender bias in systematic differences regarding care-seeking (demand for healthcare) preferences. Adjusted probabilities of positive health expenditures, CHE and EHE were estimated using probit and two-stage probit models, respectively. Quintiles of EHE by state among FHHs with elderly members were also mapped. CHE and EHE were greater among FHHs than among MHHs (4.7% vs 3.9% and 5.5% vs 4.6%), and greater in FHHs with elderly members (5.8% vs 4.9% and 6.9% vs 5.8%). EHE in FHHs with elderly members varied geographically from 3.9% to 9.1%, being greater in less developed eastern, north-central and southeastern states. Compared with MHHs, FHHs face greater risks of CHE and EHE. This vulnerability is exacerbated in FHHs with elderly members, because of gender intersectional vulnerability. The present context, marked by a growing burden of NCDs and inequities amplified by COVID-19, makes key interlinkages across multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) apparent, and calls for urgent measures that strengthen social protection in health.

Gender Inequalities in Publications about COVID-19 in Spain: Authorship and Sex-Disaggregated Data.

Gender inequalities in biomedical literature have been widely reported in authorship as well as the scarcity of results that are stratified by sex in the studies. We conducted a bibliometric review of articles on COVID-19 published in the main Spanish medical journals between April 2020 and May 2021. The purpose of this study was to analyse differences in authorship order and composition by sex and their evolution over time, as well as the frequency of sex-disaggregated empirical results and its relationship with the author sex in articles on COVID-19 in the main Spanish biomedical journals. We identified 914 articles and 4921 authors, 57.5% men and 42.5% women. Women accounted for 36.7% of first authors and for 33.7% of last authors. Monthly variation in authorship over the course of the pandemic indicates that women were always less likely to publish as first authors. Only 1.0% of the articles broke down empirical results by sex. Disaggregation of results by sex was significantly more frequent when women were first authors and when women were the majority in the authorship. It is important to make gender inequalities visible in scientific dissemination and to promote gender-sensitive research, which can help to reduce gender bias in clinical studies as well as to design public policies for post-pandemic recovery that are more gender-equitable.

Gender discrimination among women healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from a mixed methods study.

BACKGROUND: Gender discrimination among women healthcare workers (HCWs) negatively impacts job satisfaction, mental health, and career development; however, few studies have explored how experiences of gender discrimination change during times of health system strain. Thus, we conducted a survey study to characterize gender discrimination during a time of significant health system strain, i.e., the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We used a convenience sampling approach by inviting department chairs of academic medical centers in the United States to forward our online survey to their staff in January 2021. The survey included one item assessing frequency of gender discrimination, and an open-ended question asking respondents to detail experiences of discrimination. The survey also included questions about social and work stressors, such as needing additional childcare support. We used ordinal logistic regression models to identify predictors of gender discrimination, and grounded theory to characterize themes that emerged from open-ended responses. RESULTS: Among our sample of 716 women (mean age = 37.63 years, SD = 10.97), 521 (72.80%) were White, 102 (14.20%) Asian, 69 (9.60%) Black, 53 (7.4%) Latina, and 11 (1.50%) identified as another race. In an adjusted model that included demographic characteristics and social and work stressors as covariates, significant predictors of higher gender discrimination included younger age (OR = 0.98, 95%CI = 0.96, 0.99); greater support needs (OR = 1.26, 95%CI = 1.09,1.47); lower team cohesion (OR = 0.94, 95%CI = 0.91, 0.97); greater racial discrimination (OR = 1.07, 95%CI = 1.05,1.09); identifying as a physician (OR = 6.59, 95%CI = 3.95, 11.01), physician-in-training (i.e., residents and fellows; OR = 3.85, 95%CI = 2.27,6.52), or non-clinical worker (e.g., administrative assistants; OR = 3.08, 95%CI = 1.60,5.90), compared with nurses; and reporting the need for a lot more childcare support (OR = 1.84, 95%CI = 1.15, 2.97), compared with reporting no childcare support need. In their open-ended responses, women HCWs described seven themes: 1) belittlement by colleagues, 2) gendered workload distributions, 3) unequal opportunities for professional advancement, 4) expectations for communication, 5) objectification, 6) expectations of motherhood, and 7) mistreatment by patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our study underscores the severity of gender discrimination among women HCWs. Hospital systems should prioritize gender equity programs that improve workplace climate during and outside of times of health system strain.

Women Authorship Trends in the Highest-Impact Anesthesiology Journals from 2005 to 2021.

Background: Although women and men have matriculated into medical schools in similar proportions since the 1980s, recent data indicate that anesthesiology is lagging in gender equity, especially in academic leadership roles.1,2 As promotion in academic medicine is strongly influenced by publications, understanding whether a lack of women authorship is contributing to this gender gap is crucial.3,4 This article aims to assess how woman authorship trends have changed in the last 16 years, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: The five highest impact journals in anesthesia were identified as Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, British Journal of Anaesthesia, Anesthesiology, PAIN, and Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine. Number of total authors, including women, men, and unknown gender authors as well as incidence of woman first and/or last author, was documented from articles published in 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, and 2021. Results: This analysis shows that women are gaining representation in anesthesia publications. Overall, there was a statistically significant increase in the total number of women authors and women first and last authorship. However, as of 2021, women still only represented ∼40% of total and first authors and ∼24% of last authors. In addition, increase in first/last woman authorship was not present in all journals when stratified. Conclusion: These journal differences may suggest the editorial evaluation process as a potential source of gender bias. There was a statistically significant relationship between women senior authors and articles with 50% or more women authors, indicating that woman mentorship is contributing to closing equity gap. These data present a starting point for further investigations into gender disparities within anesthesia to continue the forward progression for women in academic medicine.

International Women in Biomechanics: Promoting, supporting, and sustaining the careers of women in biomechanics.

Gender biases and inequities are prevalent across many scientific fields and biomechanics is likely no exception. While progress has been made to support women in the field, especially at biomechanics society conferences, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated professional isolation. The International Women in Biomechanics (IWB) community started in July 2020 with the mission of fostering an environment for women and other under-represented genders in biomechanics to gain year-round support, visibility, and allyship. Nearly 700 biomechanists have joined the IWB community from over 300 universities/organizations and 33 countries. Our community ranges in career stages and professions and interacts through a forum-style platform, teleconference meetings, and social media. In 2021, we conducted a survey to identify the needs, concerns, and issues faced by individuals in the IWB community. We received 144 responses from members in 16 countries. Our survey revealed three primary needs for women in biomechanics: supportive working environments, career planning support, and addressing workplace gender bias. These results, in conjunction with scientific evidence on workforce gender bias, helped us identify three key areas to meet our mission: Member Support, Community Outreach, and Empowering Allyship. Several levels of support are required in these three areas to ensure a lasting, positive, and sustainable impact on gender equity in biomechanics. We conclude by providing our perspectives on an evidence-based call to action to continue addressing gender bias and inequity at the individual, institutional, and scientific society levels. These actions can collectively enhance our allyship for women in the field of biomechanics.

Face masks affect emotion categorisation, age estimation, recognition, and gender classification from faces.

Although putting on a mask over our nose and mouth is a simple but powerful way to protect ourselves and others during a pandemic, face masks may interfere with how we perceive and recognize one another, and hence, may have far-reaching impacts on communication and social interactions. To date, it remains relatively unknown the extent to which wearing a face mask that conceals the bottom part of the face affects the extraction of different facial information. To address this question, we compared young adults' performance between masked and unmasked faces in four different tasks: (1) emotion recognition task, (2) famous face recognition and naming test, (3) age estimation task, and (4) gender classification task. Results revealed that the presence of face mask has a negative impact on famous face recognition and emotion recognition, but to a smaller extent on age estimation and gender classification tasks. More interestingly, we observed a female advantage in the famous face recognition and emotion recognition tasks and a female own-gender bias in gender categorisation and age estimation tasks. Overall, these findings allude to the lack of malleability of the adulthood face recognition and perceptual systems.

A Decade of GigaScience: Women in Science: Past, Present, and Future.

Over the last decade, women have made decisive advances in increasing equality in science, technology, engineering, and medicine (STEM), but they still do not rival that of men. Many mechanisms to reduce gender discrimination have been addressed; however, little to nothing has been done to tackle the differences in the amount of time women spend on responsibilities at home. This has never been more apparent than during the COVID-19 pandemic. After a decade of advances promoting women, the last two years have seen these advances halted, and the long-term implications for women in STEM will be substantial. Moving forward, career advancement and funding mechanisms need to be adjusted to not just help women catch up, but to become a permanent support mechanism for women in the workplace. The higher amount of responsibilities at home and lack of support for women is not reserved for times of international upheaval: it has just become more apparent.

Gender perspective in COVID-19. SESPAS Report 2022.

We failed to adequately launch a gender transformative response to COVID-19 pandemic, data by sex on a variety of indicators for most countries are hard to find. Some symptoms reported as common of COVID-19 infection, are more prominent in men, while others are more prominent in women, one cannot with certainty exclude that some of the differences observed could be due to gender bias in the management of cases in health services. The gender implications of the pandemic reach wide and far. Inequalities can be further aggravated as sex and gender intersect with other axes of inequality. The SAGER guidelines exemplify an effort to improve reporting of sex and gender dimensions and encouraging researchers to integrate these aspects in the research design. these observations and emerging evidence about the persistent gender-blind approach to COVID-19 is a wake-up call to change course. National Gender Equality Institutions can be central in ensuring gender matters are considered in government responses. COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to reverse the trend and take action to apply an intersectional feminist approach to global health that enables a just and equal world where everyone's health and wellbeing matter.

The development of organization of population medical care in conditions of digitization of public health.

The article discusses two main problems of organizing medical care in national health care of Russia: medical and social monitoring of morbidity and mortality; key performance indices of public health in the Russian Federation. Methodologically, the article is based on interdisciplinary scientific approach that allows to study medical, social and economic components of public health, considering observed trends: digitalization of health care and epidemic of new coronavirus infection. Based on statistical analysis of open data on morbidity and mortality of population in the Russian Federation over past few years, results were obtained indicating that collection of medical statistics is not built consistently that medical care in health care is not organized sequentially as cycle or process, but is presented in fragments. This leads to the fact that rural population has very limited access to multidisciplinary and high-tech medical services, and in structure of mortality there is high gender bias (males die more often than females in same classes of causes). Based on identified problems, two organizing solutions are proposed. The first solution is to create, on the basis of the Ministry of Health Care of Russia, special portal for complete, reliable and up-to-date medical statistics, which will be generated and processed using Big Data technologies. The second solution consists in transition from fragmentation to systematic organization of medical care in the "education and prevention-treatment-rehabilitation" continuum, while for each stage special set of key performance indices is established that allows to solve the tasks of improving public health, but also to develop harmonized social and economic public policy.