Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Doing And Undoing Gender In The Hospital Workplace, Nayyara Tabassum, Antonio Chiesi

Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought

In the hospital, both male and female doctors ‘do gender’, but because men and masculinity are associated with greater authority (and by association, competence), masculinised traits are favoured over feminine traits in the hospital workplace. In order to be accepted as competent doctors, female doctors expend a great deal of ‘emotional labour’ and ‘do gender’ by acting out prized masculine traits through appearance and behaviour strategies and thereby gaining legitimacy as respected, competent doctors in their interactions with other co-workers (doctors, nurses) and patients. Our study looks at the varied experiences of both older/senior and younger/junior medical doctors. Through in-depth …