Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 13 Dr. Chang: Do Sheryl Sandberg's ob- servations from the business world apply equally to women in medi- cine? Dr. Braga-Mele: Within many fields of medicine, including ophthalmol- ogy, there is still a "glass ceiling" for growth and development that women face more so than their con- temporary males. Unfortunately, I believe that some degree of gender bias does exist. I have been fortunate that I have been accepted equally among most of my male and female peers and have had many excellent male and female mentors within my profession, but I occasionally feel the biases toward me as a successful woman and mother. Also, even if a woman feels completely confident and comfort- able with her capabilities and does not feel guilt over having a success- ful career, her drive can occasionally be perceived as aggressive and un- seemly in women as compared to men. Dr. Davis: In 2006, John Pinto and I edited a book, The Women of Oph- thalmology: Observations on Gender Issues in Eyecare (published by ASCRS•ASOA), that discusses this exact topic. I do believe that gender bias exists in both the business and medical fields. If we examine oph- thalmology, we see it has been over a decade that ophthalmology resi- dencies have been composed of at least 50% women. Yet if we look at university ophthalmology depart- ment heads, society leadership and committees, journal editorial boards, invited speakers at meetings, etc., there is a paucity of women. Some of this is likely to be personal choice. Women tend to be the pri- mary caregivers for children and still do most of the domestic tasks. Thus many sacrifice escalation of their ca- reer for their family. Additionally, with few women in leadership posi- tions, there are sparse role mod- els. Women may also view this as a sign that achieving a leadership role is a rarity and an exercise in futility. But lack of interest or effort can't be the entire explanation for the gen- der disparity in career success. To achieve a leadership position, an in- dividual must have a certain amount of confidence, conviction, aggres- siveness, and ambition. These traits are well accepted and even admired when displayed by men. On the other hand, when they are exhibited by a woman, because of societal norms and customs, she can some- times be viewed in an entirely differ- ent light—as insensitive, selfish, and boorish. This can result in a lack of support by others, both men and Gender bias: The Heidi Roizen study Seibel* Nucleus Choppers For Vertical & Horizontal Chopping, Available In Stainless & Titanium... 3360 Scherer Drive, Suite B, St. Petersburg, FL 33716 s 4EL s &AX %MAIL )NFO 2HEIN-EDICALCOM s 7EBSITE WWW2HEIN-EDICALCOM $EVELOPED )N #OORDINATION 7ITH "ARRY 3 3EIBEL -$ 9OUNG 7OMAN AT (ER 4OILET 4ITIAN AJBA 1314 Rev.A Seibel* Horizontal Safety Chopper Seibel* Vertical Safety Chopper Call 800-637-4346 For More Information The Seibel* Horizontal Safety Chopper: Unique Mirror Polished Olive Tip With Offset Bevels, Ideal For Peripheral Chopping In Line With The Phaco Incision. Available In Stainless & Titanium. The Seibel* Vertical Safety Chopper: Special Offset Converging Bevels On The Distal Segment Make This An Effi cient & Effective Quick Chopper While Protecting The Posterior Capsule. Available In Stainless & Titanium. 2:15 PM O ne of my wife's business school classmates, Heidi Roizen, was the subject of an interesting study. How she used networking to advance her ca- reer as a successful venture capitalist be- came a Harvard Business School case study. One professor presented this case study of her career path to two groups of students. He used her real name for the first group, but changed her name to Howard for the second group. Although everyone agreed that Heidi and Howard were both successful, the distressing part was that male and female students liked Howard as a person, but had a more nega- tive perception of Heidi's character. I re- cently watched a wonderful TED talk by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg address- ing the question of why we have too few women leaders. She used this Heidi Roizen study to illustrate the subtle gender bias where success and likability are positively correlated with men, but more negatively correlated with women. TED talks are pow- erful and dynamic 15-minute presenta- tions by selected experts on a variety of subjects, and I recommend that you view this thought-provoking presentation by searching "Sandberg" at www.ted.com. Sandberg offers three pieces of ad- vice to aspiring women leaders, and I asked the three female chairs of our ASCRS clinical committees for their thoughts regarding her ideas. Rosa Braga-Mele, M.D., Elizabeth Davis, M.D., and Julia Haller M.D., head the ASCRS cataract, refractive, and retina clinical committees, respectively, and I'd be hard pressed to imagine a more impressive group of role models for our younger fe- male ASCRS members. I also speak for all of their colleagues in pointing out that suc- cess and likability are certainly positively correlated with these well-respected women leaders. David F. Chang, M.D., chief medical editor continued on page 14 July 2011 Chief medical editor's corner of the world

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