Though progress continues to be made in increasing gender equity in the workplace, sexism and inequities still exist. Few understand this better than women who work in medical specialties and other roles where men make up the majority.
For Women’s History Month, we talked to women throughout UW Medicine who work in male-dominated fields — from surgery to IT to security to piloting — about what their experiences have been like and what advice they have for women who want to follow in their footsteps.
Brittany Barber, MD, MSc, FRCSC, assistant professor, Head and Neck Surgical Oncology & Microvascular Reconstruction, Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery
What interested you in your field and how did you get on your current career path?
I grew up in a rural town of about 400 people in the plains of Canada, living on a farm and delivering calves. I wanted to be a doctor but didn’t think I’d be a surgeon or in this field; no one in my family was medical. When I was fortunate enough to be accepted into medical school, I saw a free flap surgery on a head and neck cancer patient and thought, ”I have to do this.”
It’s a nuanced surgery, technically challenging, and typically 8-12 hours long. We take cancer out, then reconstruct the area with tissue from another part of the body, a transplant from yourself to yourself. I became interested in the field because the surgeries were intriguing but chose the field because I love the patient population. I follow patients for many years after their surgery and getting to know them and their families has been very rewarding for me.
What has your experience been like in a traditionally male-dominated field?
Where I trained, there had only been three previous female residents before me. The training was difficult. It was before duty-hour work restrictions were in place and so we sometimes worked over 130 hours per week. There was active discouragement of family planning, so not many females pursued training there. But I had one mentor who was incredibly inspiring, technically gifted and had a career and family life that I admired. Having his support and mentorship helped me to get where I am today.
I ended up at UW Medicine because my mentor did his fellowship here and had a great experience. UW has been a very supportive and welcoming environment; it is a very unique place in that way. I recently started a family and was met with nothing but support from my department about taking time off.
How can employers, managers and mentors support women in their careers?
I can’t emphasize the importance of mentorship enough. I struggled during my fellowship with how I’d ever have the family I wanted with the hours I worked then. But I had a female mentor during that time who had been through it and has been able to balance work and family life in a way that has been very inspiring for me. She continues to mentor me today and I hope to do the same for my trainees.
What is your advice for women entering male-dominated fields?
Never let anybody tell you that you can’t do something. Seek out mentors who can provide you with hope and the tools you need to get where you need to be. Make your needs known. Make your value known to your team. Don’t understate your value because women bring a lot to the table in terms of work ethic, way of thinking and approach to the workplace.
Elina Quiroga, MD, MPH, vascular surgeon, Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Clinic at Harborview
What interested you in your field and how did you get on your current career path?
I got interested in vascular surgery for so many reasons: the technically demanding cases, the diversity of surgical procedures and, most importantly, the patient population I treat. My specialty is trauma and emergency vascular surgery. At Harborview Medical Center, I often take care of patients who have experienced a life-changing event such as a car crash, a ruptured aneurysm or a clot blocking the blood flow to the legs. It is incredibly fulfilling for me to be able to help these patients through the most difficult moments of their lives with my skills and my empathy. Furthermore, as vascular patients require long-term follow-up, I am able to develop long-standing relationships and strong connections with them and their families.
What has your experience been like in a traditionally male-dominated field?
Vascular surgery is still a male-dominated field by far, and it is not unusual for me to be the only woman in the room. I used to wear only dark suits and have my hair perfectly tied back to blend in as much as possible, to feel that ”I belong,” but now I have grown into my place as a surgeon, in big part due to support and experience and I am more comfortable in bringing my whole self to work. Now I proudly wear my long, curly hair down and choose fun, bright colors for meetings and presentations.
Less than 15% of vascular surgeons are women, and Latinas are less than 3%. But there is change coming: 38% of current vascular surgery trainees are women. I work every day to be a role model to them and with my work, pave the road and inspire future surgeons.
How can employers, managers and mentors support women in their careers?
There are still differences in the day-to-day experience of women in surgery. I am fortunate to have amazing sponsors and mentors here at UW that guided me and helped me succeed despite those subtle ( and not so subtle) gender barriers. However, that is not the experience in other places. Leaders should be intentional about creating opportunities for mentorship and sponsorship.
Another way to support women is discussing and bringing awareness about the gender pay gap. Women are generally paid less than men; that gap is even wider for Black and Latina surgeons. People in power should be aware of those differences, recognize them and intentionally and transparently address them.
What is your advice for women entering male-dominated fields?
Don’t doubt your worth: You are here, you earned it, you deserve it. Just keep doing the work that you want to be doing. Find mentors and be a mentor for others. Reach out, connect and be yourself.
Estell Williams, MD, surgeon, General Surgery Clinic at UW Medical Center – Montlake
What interested you in your field and how did you get on your current career path?
Being a doctor was something I wanted to do since I was a small child. In high school I did Stanford’s Medical Youth Science program and was tasked with doing a project about someone inspiring in medicine. I came across Dr. Alexa Irene Canady, the first Black female neurosurgeon in the U.S., and her story resonated with me. She was my first inspiration seeing a woman who looked like me in a male-dominated field.
What has your experience been like in a traditionally male-dominated field?
Here at UW Medicine, it’s a unique environment; you see women represented very well within our surgery department. There is a commitment to bringing women into a male-dominated space and ensuring they’re successful.
But when I started here, imposter syndrome still set in —not because of anything intentional people said but because of the perception. Only two other Black women graduated from the UW School of Medicine before me, Dr. Yvonne Collins and Dr. Lara Oyetunji. Because there wasn’t a large representation of Black females in our program, I carried the weight of not messing it up for those who came behind me so no one would ever question bringing in another Black woman. It took a long time for me to be able to process and accept that I didn’t need to carry that burden. True commitment means investing in women of color regardless of my performance.
How can employers, managers and mentors support women in their careers?
You have to be intentional, you can’t just bring someone into a space and think that wanting them there is enough. You have to understand their specific needs. I speak out more about initiatives around diversity, equity and inclusion because it’s been a passion of mine since pre-med, but that’s not everybody’s interest, and just because someone is Black, Indigenous or a person of color doesn’t mean they want to do that work. Make sure women have strong mentors who help them navigate how they want to grow their career, mentors who they trust to share their vision with. If you say you’re doing equity, diversity and inclusion work, make sure you do it wholeheartedly or don’t do it at all.
What is your advice for women entering male-dominated fields?
Be fearless and don’t dim your light for anybody. By trying to dispel stereotypes you spend more energy, that takes away from your ability to invest it in things that are truly meaningful to you.
Judy Chen, MD, FACS, FASMBS, bariatric surgeon and co-director of the UW Center for Weight Loss and Metabolic Surgery
What interested you in your field and how did you get on your current career path?
Surgery requires a highly-defined set of advanced technical skills and a mastery of understanding physiology to create a curative treatment. The technical skills needed to perform a gastric bypass and other bariatric operations require advanced laparoscopic training after general surgery training. In addition, bariatric surgery is a relatively new specialty — less than a few decades old — and is very complex in the interplay of metabolic, neurologic, endocrine and inflammatory factors. This high level of complexity appeals to me, and I have worked hard to cultivate the skills necessary to practice in this specialty.
What has your experience been like in a traditionally male-dominated field?
Without considering gender, medicine is already a competitive field. For all physicians, there’s constant pressure that can be like a rubber band on stretch. As a woman in a male-dominated field, I often feel like there is more tension on my rubber band because I have to perform without weakness. Any snap is seen as unforgiveable, and that tension can be tested by many interactions, such as proving my worth to a patient when mistaken for a non-physician.
How can employers, managers and mentors support women in their careers?
Leaders can support women by recognizing that women have a different experience and then validating that experience. It can be defeating to feel alone because, often, women are not only hard on themselves but can be on each other.
What is your advice for women entering male-dominated fields?
The most effective people are those who understand themselves, both their strengths and weaknesses, so they can develop strategies to meet the demands of their environment. For women trying to break away from sticky floors and through glass ceilings, you might fall, but having a net is important for support. If a woman wants to break into a male-dominated space, know yourself, recognize the reality of the environment, and use your knowledge to be a great version of yourself.
Katrina Hallgren, helicopter pilot at Airlift Northwest
What interested you in your field and how did you get on your current career path?
I was always interested in aviation since I was a kid. I got my private airplane license in high school because I wanted to get a taste of it and see if it was something I wanted to follow as a career. But in college I studied biology and ended up working for UW’s microbiology department and then as a fisheries biologist for many years in Alaska.
Aviation called me back though, and I completed helicopter training. I started out as a flight instructor, did tours, and worked for offshore oil and gas companies. I got interested in emergency medical services (EMS) because it was an opportunity to utilize a helicopter to give back.
What has your experience been like in a traditionally male-dominated field?
The last time I looked, women were less than 5% of the industry for all of aviation. There are many more women in the airline and airplane industry than in helicopters.
I don’t have problems at this point in my career. However, it has not always been that way. Though I imagine it’s easier for me than it was for some older female pilots I know, it’s still a very challenging field. There are operators out there that refuse to hire women — it’s hard to believe that still happens. Women in this field have to work a little harder than everyone else and if you make a mistake you may be judged more harshly.
How can employers, managers and mentors support women in their careers?
The best way to support women is to not treat them any differently. We don’t need to be introduced as “the female pilot,” just as “the pilot.”
It’s also important for male supervisors to be willing to listen and understand that women are encountering different problems. There are still inherent biases that we deal with all the time.
What is your advice for women entering male-dominated fields?
You can do it. When I first did my airplane training I was 16 and in a room full of ten other students, all of them were men over 40. I was thinking to myself, “This is not for me, all of these guys understand a lot more of this stuff than I do.” When you put your mind to it you can learn any new skill even if it feels way out of your wheelhouse.
Kim McGehe, helicopter mechanic at Airlift Northwest
What interested you in your field and how did you get on your current career path?
When I was 6 or 7, I got to go in an open-air helicopter at a Boeing airshow; that was my first recollection of wanting to be a pilot. It wasn’t in cards for me to be a pilot or mechanic when I joined the military after high school, but I did get a job working on electrical with aircraft. After I got out of the military, I went to school to get my Airframe and Powerplant license so I could work on helicopters as a mechanic. I eventually got my pilot’s license, then my private helicopter license and commercial pilot’s license. I have 700 hours of cross-country helicopter flight time.
What has your experience been like in a traditionally male-dominated field?
It’s been mostly positive. The difficulties I’ve had, I didn’t think of as because I was a woman, though other people saw it that way; I just looked at it like that door closed, others opened.
When I was in the military, it was a different time: Women weren’t flying fighter jets or in frontline companies yet. You had to keep your head down and have thick skin. I was deployed to Germany with a side trip into the first Gulf War. I was a fire control technician, working on the electrical weapons system of the attack helicopters. I was the only female on my platoon in Germany.
I hadn’t worked with another female mechanic until 2010, and getting to do that was an absolute joy.
What is your advice for women entering male-dominated fields?
Don’t ever take no for an answer. Don’t look at yourself just as a woman: You have a job to do, so do it to the best of your ability. Sexism exists, but you can’t let it stop you.
Lisa Wilcox, campus security sergeant at Harborview Medical Center
What interested you in your field and how did you get on your current career path?
I grew up in a small town in Eastern Washington in a first-responder household. My mother is now a retired nurse and my father a retired law enforcement officer, so helping people has always been an integral part of who I am at the core. During my last quarter of my senior year in college, I was accepted into an internship with the Puyallup Police Department. That internship is what led to my career here at Harborview.
Twenty years later, I’m still here. The marriage of healthcare and law enforcement in this role is so rewarding, and I feel like I am fulfilling both aspects of my parents’ careers that I grew up around and have loved so much my entire life.
What has your experience been like in a traditionally male-dominated field?
I haven’t seen a ton of progression in the balance between the sexes in this department or security/law enforcement in general. I know that this environment is extremely difficult to navigate, for men and for women. It is a very physically, emotionally, and mentally demanding job. Many people still see females as intrinsically “weak” and think they can physically out power us or use derogatory terms and names to break us down. Though this happens to our male officers, too, I think myself and other female officers get misjudged or underestimated more often than some of our male counterparts.
How can employers, managers and mentors support women in their careers?
It is important that employers make an effort to recruit and retain quality female candidates and not just hire to fill a quota, especially in fields where females are outnumbered 5-1.
What is your advice for women entering male-dominated fields?
Don’t change who you are or what you stand for in an attempt to get anyone’s approval. Let your actions and your hard work speak for itself. Recognize and embrace the male allies in the department — their input can be beneficial to understanding the culture and pursuing change. Advocate for other women when you can and celebrate other women’s victories.
Mentorship is also important. I have a former director who I still collaborate with and who has been a phenomenal mentor and ally for me. He recognized my potential, my grit and my loyalty to the organization, and pushed me harder than anyone I’d ever met. So find someone who will believe in you and push you when you have those moments of self-doubt creep in — it’s one of the best feelings in the world to be supported and seen for succeeding in a field where the odds aren’t always in your favor, but you know that this is where you’re meant to be to make a difference.
Martha Thomas, manager of Data Integration Services, UW Medicine, IT Services
What interested you in your field and how did you get on your current career path?
In college, I started in computer science, didn’t finish it, and ended up studying social science instead. Then I got my master’s in public health, started working on a research project about coronary risk factors in children, and that’s what got me interested in computer science and healthcare together. I worked as a contractor at NASA for seven years for astronaut health research.
Now, my team manages Epic, and other information systems. I feel lucky my different interests coalesced.
What has your experience been like in a traditionally male-dominated field?
When I was younger, computer science was not central to everything we did. You had more people that were hardcore nerds and mathematicians, not necessarily just anyone. The fact that it was a niche field felt like it had more room for everybody. I’ve seen stats that fewer women are in tech and education now, percentage wise, than back when I was in school in the ‘80s, but I think people are working to change that.
What is your advice for women entering male-dominated fields?
Whenever I talk to my nieces, I say if you see a job and you don’t have all the qualifications, apply anyway. There’s a tendency for women to think they have to have all the skills before they even apply, but they don’t. That took me a long time to figure out.
Don’t be afraid to speak up. Sometimes you have to do that more so you don’t get overlooked, to make sure you’re part of the conversation. Don’t wait for anybody to ask you. Look for allies, and not just female ones. I have had men who have been super helpful in my career.
Mukta Krane, MD, FACS, colorectal surgeon and Chief of Colorectal Surgery in the Department of Surgery
What interested you in your field and how did you get on your current career path?
I first became interested in medicine when I was very young. In medical school my intention was to become a pediatrician, but once I did rotations, surgery was the best fit, and I was introduced to colorectal surgery in my third-year clerkship. I had good fortune to work with a top surgeon, who is also a great person: Dr. Alessandro Fichera. He was my mentor, and when he built the colorectal program here, he recruited me.
Colorectal surgery is a career where I can treat patients with benign and malignant disease with an eye on restoring or improving quality of life. It’s a specialty where 50% of our patients are women, but at the time I started there were relatively few female colorectal surgeons.
What has your experience been like in a traditionally male-dominated field?
I did not have a lot of female role models. Surgery is still male-dominated, but was particularly so 20 years ago when I began training. I didn’t really think that representation was that important, but when I was a fellow I did have a female colorectal role model, which made a tremendous difference in the trajectory of my life and made me realize how much representation does matter.
One challenge for me was having a family; I have three kids. The operations I do are very long and physically intense, so how do you do that when you’re pregnant or nursing and have to pump? You can look at my CV and see when I’ve had toddlers at home, when I wasn’t as productive at work. How do you wear both hats and do them well? I realized I will be 10 minutes late to everything and my car will run on empty, that’s just the reality. You have to decide the things in life that you want to get an A+ on, then the things you’re willing to get a C on. For me, my patients and my family are what I need to get an A+ on.
How can employers, managers and mentors support women in their careers?
We’ve seen a significant shift in women entering surgery and colorectal surgery, but you’re still seeing more male dominance at higher levels, like full professors and leadership positions. That’s an area we still need to change because it doesn’t represent the general population.
Leaders also have to have a better understanding of what women’s strengths are and how to modify the teaching and job at times when needed. Women are often good at building community with each other, so help them do that. We have a women in surgery event every month, where we talk about family, imposter syndrome, how patients may view you differently and how to manage it. For women to be able to express that in an open environment is really helpful.
Many people of color, especially women in male-dominated fields, often get turned into a model for people who look like them — they feel like they’re representing their entire ethnic population or race. I don’t know a lot of white men who feel that way. It’s important to understand the pressure that puts on someone.
What is your advice for women entering male-dominated fields?
First of all, realize you deserve to be there. Just because everybody doesn’t look like you doesn’t mean you’re not supposed to be at that table — they need you there. Come in with that confidence. You’ve earned your spot.
Be who you are. As I’ve became more of a leader, I realized I don’t lead in the model of leadership that I’ve always seen. I thought I had to change, but then I realized I don’t have to, that the role would benefit from adapting. That’s challenging in a male-dominated field, or where you’re different than your predecessors, but it’s OK to think and be outside of the box.
Sarah Miller, chief application systems officer, UW Medicine IT Services
What interested you in your field and how did you get on your current career path?
Like many people, I stumbled into an IT career after studying things that were “IT adjacent” in college and then getting recruited into a tech company. I went to school for a bioengineering degree because I always enjoyed math and science and analytical problem-solving and I thought combining that with studying human anatomy and physiology would be fun.
A few years after graduating, the local, hot healthcare technology company was recruiting STEM majors at rapid rates. I took a job on their technical services team where I quickly got to apply my analytical problem-solving skills to all kinds of healthcare technology challenges. I am super thankful for my time in software development but when I had my daughter, I decided to move on to something with a better work-life balance.
What has your experience been like in a traditionally male-dominated field?
Healthcare IT depends on incorporating people who understand the very, very complicated business of healthcare, nursing and medicine; we tend to do a better job than most industries in achieving gender diversity in our IT teams, especially on the application side of the IT team where I have spent my career. The IT teams at health systems are typically made up of a combination of yes, computer science majors, but also nurses, doctors, pharmacists and various other folks who have transitioned into IT from other areas of the healthcare system.
On a day-to-day basis, I don’t typically feel like my own work life is male-dominated. In fact, it’s not totally uncommon for me to be in a meeting that is majority female. That said, if I followed a traditional career path, my next move would be into a chief information officer role and only 18% of CIOs at hospitals and health systems across the U.S. are women.
What is your advice for women entering male-dominated fields?
There are two areas where I find myself coaching women more so than men. One is to encourage them to advocate for themselves and not sell themselves short.
The other is to keep their eyes open to ways to expand their knowledge and experience that might not be obvious. Think of a career climbing wall versus a career ladder. Lateral career moves can be very helpful to gain the broader knowledge base and experience needed to take on a bigger role.
Suzanne Yandow, MD, professor of orthopedic surgery at UW School of Medicine
What interested you in your field and how did you get on your current career path?
I was the first person in my family to go into medicine. I did in part because, when I was 15, my father died suddenly of a heart attack. It was overwhelming but studying science helped me understand some of why it had happened. In medical school in Florida, I loved surgery, and when I rotated on orthopedics it was a natural fit of people who were function and outcome improvement-oriented and high energy. They all just happened to be men.
When I did my residency in Utah, I had no idea that they had never trained a woman before. But the residents I worked with were amazing and made me feel connected and wanted. When this job in Seattle opened up about eight years ago, it seemed like an ideal fit.
What has your experience been like in a traditionally male-dominated field?
It was hard being a mother of three while moving and being a surgeon. Numerous times I’d feel like a good doctor or good mom, but rarely on the same day. Balance is the key. I was a gymnast when I was young. If you’re on a balance beam, you’re not standing still, you’re hovering between both sides so you’re balanced in the center. In life we do the same thing, oscillate between the things we need.
Only 11% of orthopedics are women. The rate of change is slow: expected equity is in 110 years. I was a fellow when I had my first baby, and there was no maternity leave, so I had to be back after three weeks of vacation. There were no lactation rooms, so scrubbing in for a six- to eight-hour case as a breastfeeding mother was nearly impossible.
We get taught that taking care of yourself or your family isn’t important, that work always must come first, but that isn’t right. If you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of other people.
How can employers, managers and mentors support women in their careers?
I recently helped conduct a survey of surgeons at Seattle Children’s, and we found that microaggressions and macroaggressions against women are immensely present, some 70% of female surgeons have experienced them. That’s unacceptable. Women need to be supported, sponsored and mentored by men and women in positions of leadership. Encourage women to speak up for themselves and others and ask for what they need.