What is the first thought that comes on thinking about an emergency department (ED) in a hospital? Chaos, uncertainty, people and patients running around, blood and urine on the floor, a place where anything could happen at any time? Yes, it might be all of this, but amidst this despair, there is hope in ED. Scenes of panicked family members coexist with satisfied doctors after a successful resuscitation and, believe it or not, all this despair and distress might be statistically slightly better if your care is led by a female doctor. Astonishing! You always thought the opposite, right?

A large study published in Annals of Internal Medicine (1) revealed that data examined from 770,000 records of patients hospitalized from 2016 to 2019 showed that both male and female patients were less likely to die and had lower readmission rates within 30 days, if their care was led by a female doctor. In addition, female patients benefitted significantly more from being seen by a female doctor than a male counterpart.

Not undermining any gender, but through my short career span, I have had the opportunity to work with both wonderful male and female doctors. However, from my personal experience, female doctors are often considered by many as junior doctors, novices or nurses. This might not be intentional, but rather a deep-rooted unconscious bias.

In India, of all healthcare workers, only ~38% of doctors are female and when we consider allopathic doctors, the number drops down to ~16.8%. (2) Worldwide, female emergency medicine physicians constitute around ~33% of the specialty (3) ; It is much lower in India, but this statistic is not even available for the Indian scenario as the fact is, we, the female EM physicians are a rare tribe in India.

Women face several challenges in balancing work-life integration, and, unfortunately, more harassment at the workplace and outside. Coming to pay and promotion, women in Indian healthcare earn about ~34% less than men, and only approximately ~18% of leadership roles in India is held by women. Hence, we are far away from gender equality when it comes to healthcare providers in low and middle income countries – more so, in the highly critical emergency department.

Let me tell you my personal journey as a female EM physician in India.

When I started my emergency medicine residency in 2022 in one of the most reputed institutes in India, I had only one female senior resident The male EM residents had all been extremely cooperative in my entire residency journey, but the talk on the floor continuously reminded me that EM was not a branch for a woman doctor. However, as I persisted, I saw no difference between the working efficacy or tenacity in my male and female seniors. In fact, I clearly remember a night when there was a mass casualty near my hospital and large number of patients were being brought in together, there was only two residents on duty: myself and my female senior resident. Could

two women manage such a huge crowd? But we performed great together – one after another, we triaged and managed cases calmly and consistently. That night, our imposter syndrome was defeated., the confidence kicked in within me that no matter what people think or say - female emergency medicine residents are equally competent to manage difficult situations, large crowds and unforeseen circumstances. In fact, our professors, and nursing staff were often more satisfied while working with female EM physicians, probably, because of the patient-centric character attributes that the female physicians bring to the table.

Let me share some of those character attributes typically ascribed to women.

Collaborative leadership style - Females generally have a higher aptitude for different human characteristics and are good in developing strong relationships. This helps people feel safe and they can come together more seamlessly to work for a common goal. This collaborative culture boosts morale and productivity.

Diversity and Inclusivity - Women bring a different perspective and experience to the workplace. Also, they usually try to understand and include the perspectives of others on board for better patient and hospital outcomes, just like the mother in the house who listens to everyone’s views and tries to bring them to a common, inclusive point of decision.

Emotional Intelligence - Women usually have higher emotional intelligence and can pick up on what a patient or her team member may be thinking or feeling, sometimes even when they are hesitant to do so.

Mindfulness - Women are often mindful and try to look at the bigger picture while also trying to break down situations into details. There is an Indian mythological story about five blind men who were caressing an elephant. One touched the trunk, another caressed the tusks, one was rubbing a foot, and so on. When asked what they felt, each described the elephant according to the part they touched and were arguing with each other as their findings didn’t match. A blind woman was then asked to identify the animal that each blind man was describing. She listened to each of the five blind men and concluded that they were all trying to describe the same animal and hence, all of them were actually correct. This “no one-only perspective is right” is something that Jain scriptures talk about as “Anenkantvada,” a known, gifted trait of most women.

Empathy - Women are often innately nurturing and studies show patients feel more comforted and the care is better when the treating doctor is a female. (4)

Partnership - Females have a different way of working in partnerships and can often keep the team together like a family, simultaneously pushing team members to give their best individually, yet stay together.

Risk-taking – Usually, risk-taking behaviour has been associated socially with men and on the other hand, women are considered to be docile and submissive. But if you flip the pages of history, you’ll find many men who have taken risks and succeeded, were initially motivated and supported by a woman. For e.g., Rani Jija Bai is remembered with great respect in Indian history for supporting and motivating her husband Shahji Bhonsle after his defeat against Bijapur Sultanate and also training her son ,Chhatrapati Shivaji (after whom the Mumbai airport is named ) to become a valiant warrior, fight the mighty Mughals and get the throne back. In contemporary world, Indians fondly acknowledge contribution of author and entrepreneur Sudha Murthy who supported her husband, Narayan Murthy with 10,000 rupees and helped him lay the foundation of Infosys , the IT giant company which brought an IT revolution in India. A docile mother can turn into a fierce lioness while defending her child. Similarly, women leaders have been found to take challenging decisions and handle them tactfully when it’s important for the team that she cares about.

Creativity- Having women with men on board leads to more creativity and new ideas and perspectives than a homogeneous team of a single gender. For eg., in a discussion on ways to increase patient awareness on a particular topic, women can give more creative suggestions like using art, drama with emotional touch to connect better with general public. Also women in general are more enthusiastic in remembering birthdays or special days of team members and often come out with creative ideas and gifts for same. Such small gestures not only strengthen bond within a team but also enhances the enthusiasm and spirit of the team.

Motivation- Women EM physicians and women leaders act as role models for many other girls and women to break stereotypes, especially in low and middle-income countries with conservative families. Since women constitute almost half of a nation’s population, their development would lead to the nation’s development.

Both males and females can be excellent EM physicians through hard work, determination and training. All genders have something to bring to the table, but the fact that women are underrepresented in emergency medicine and leadership (despite comprising 50% of medical students) means that half of the world population is still underutilized.

The Hindu sacred book, Vedas, have described the qualities of a woman in the powerful Durga Stotra in a very beautiful way:

“Ya Devi Sarva Bhuteshu Shakti Rupen Samsthita

Ya Devi Sarva Bhuteshu Buddhi Rupena Samsthita,

Ya Devi Sarva Bhuteshu Shaanti Rupena Samsthita,

Ya Devi Sarva Bhuteshu Daya Rupena Samsthita,

Namastasyai Namastasyai Namastasyai Namo Namah.”

“Salutations to her who in all her beings is abiding in the form of Shakti (power), Buddhi (intelligence), Shanti (peace), and Daya (kindness).”). This depicts the various attributes of a woman which must be respected and cherished.

In India, till date, many families want the females to stay at home and look after household and children. There has been a positive change in the mindset of people over last 2 decades, yet only 37.8% females are working women. (5) The journey from breaking this paradigm, pursuing medicine and then choosing the challenging, demanding job of emergency physician isn't easy and displays the strong will power of these females. It's high time we all recognise this high spirit and strong determination and duly appreciate it.

So, next time when you meet a smiling female EM physician, greet her as a specialist doctor, cooperate and try acknowledging her because she had to break a lot of barriers and stereotypes to be where she is. So, trust her and be happy, you are working with the best.

References :

1. Patients Treated by Female Physicians Had Better Mortality Rates | Geriatrics | JAMA | JAMA Network [Internet]. [cited 2025 Jan 20]. Available from: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2819073
2. Being a Woman in emergency medicine: The perspective and the untold! - Life News | The Financial Express [Internet]. [cited 2025 Jan 31]. Available from: https://www.financialexpress.com/life/being-a-woman-in-emergency-medicine-the-perspective-and-the-untold-3016356/
3. AAMC [Internet]. [cited 2025 Jan 31]. U.S. Physician Workforce Data Dashboard. Available from: https://www.aamc.org/data-reports/report/us-physician-workforce-data-dashboard
4. A woman’s touch: Female doctors linked to better patient outcomes [Internet]. [cited 2025 Jan 20]. Available from: https://www.medicaleconomics.com/view/a-woman-s-touch-female-doctors-linked-to-better-patient-outcomes
5. https://dge.gov.in/dge/sites/default/files/2023-05/Female_Labour_Utilization_in_India_April_2023_final__1_-pages-1-2-merged__1_.pdf