Gender Variation in General Surgery Resident Applicant Letters of Recommendation
Emily Palmquist MD 1, Lilian Chen MD 2 1. Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA 2. Tufts Medical Center ,Boston, MA, USA
Introduction Letters of recommendation (LoR) for general surgery applicants were assessed for differences in word choice, tone and overall assessment based on gender.
Methods
LoR from applicants to an academic surgical residency during 2016-17 cycle were coded for gender of applicant and letter writer, and frequency of agentic and communal terms. Further coding used grounded theory to understand common themes.
Results
A total of 268 letters from 74 applicants were reviewed, average 3.6 letters per applicant. 159 letters for female applicants, 109 for male applicants. In regard to letter writers: 18% were female, 50% had the academic title Professor, 20% Associate Professor, 20% Assistant Professor, and 27% were a Chairman. There was a trend towards males being described with agentic terms as compared to females (6.5 agentic terms per letter versus 4.8 respectively). Females were described as possessing communal terms at a higher frequency (5.2 communal terms per letter versus 3.8 respectively). Common themes were present for all applicant including knowledge, teamwork, patient care, technical-skills, and preparedness. Females were described as humble and understanding the sacrifice of a surgical residency. Leadership was mentioned with similarly frequency, but females were praised for current leadership skills while males were honored for both current and future leadership potential. 9% of letters describes negative/neutral characteristics, most common topics described were low board scores or overly quiet nature.
Conclusion
Although commonly praised for fund of knowledge, teamwork and leadership in LoR for general surgery there are subtle differences based on gender with communal and agentic terms.
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