Science without meritocracy. Discrimination among European specialists in infectious diseases and clinical microbiology: a questionnaire survey

Abstract

Objective: In 2009, in a European survey, around a quarter of Europeans reported witnessing discrimination or harassment at their workplace. The parity committee from the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) designed a questionnaire survey to investigate forms of discrimination with respect to country, gender and ethnicity among medical professionals in hospitals and universities carrying out activities in the clinical microbiology (CM) and infectious diseases (ID) fields.

Design: The survey consisted of 61 questions divided into five areas (sociodemographic, professional census and environment, leadership and generic) and ran anonymously for nearly 3 months on the ESCMID website.

Subjects: European specialists in CM/ID.

Results: Overall, we included 1274 professionals. The majority of respondents (68%) stated that discrimination is present in medical science. A quarter of them reported personal experience with discrimination, mainly associated with gender and geographic region. Specialists from South-Western Europe experienced events at a much higher rate (37%) than other European regions. The proportion of women among full professor was on average 46% in CM and 26% in ID. Participation in high-level decision-making committees was significantly (>10 percentage points) different by gender and geographic origin. Yearly gross salary among CM/ID professionals was significantly different among European countries and by gender, within the same country. More than one-third of respondents (38%) stated that international societies in CM/ID have an imbalance as for committee member distribution and speakers at international conferences.

Conclusions: A quarter of CM/ID specialists experienced career and research discrimination in European hospitals and universities, mainly related to gender and geographic origin. Implementing proactive policies to tackle discrimination and improve representativeness and balance in career among CM/ID professionals in Europe is urgently needed.

Figure 1

Proportion of 214 clinical microbiology professionals in different academic grades stratified by gender. †Significant results: 10 percentage points difference (corresponding to a precision of ±5%); prof.: professor.

Figure 2

Proportion of 229 infectious diseases professionals in different academic grades stratified by gender. †Significant results: 10 percentage points difference (corresponding to a precision of ±5%); prof.: professor.

Figure 3

Proportion of 235 clinical microbiology/infectious diseases professionals in top income levels (>95 000 euro/year) stratified by gender and geographic region.

Figure 4

Professional achievements according to PAI stratified by gender. PAI: Professional Achievement Index. Each indicator was evaluated on a trichotomous ordinal scale (low/medium/high presence). Each mode was attributed a numerical value between 0 and 1. The results obtained for each individual indicator were then added. To make the results of the different indexes homogeneous, the value scale of each index has been equalised at a 0–10 range. For each index a threshold system has been set up, so to place each individual within a ‘low/medium/high’ trichotomous scale with respect to a given profile (for instance: ‘medium professional achievement’). See table 2 for indicators included in this index.

Figure 5

Work-life balance according to WLBI stratified by gender. WLBI: Work-Life Balance Index. Each indicator was evaluated on a trichotomous ordinal scale (low/medium/high presence). Each mode was attributed a numerical value between 0 and 1. The results obtained for each individual indicator were then added. To make the results of the different indexes homogeneous, the value scale of each index has been equalised at a 0–10 range. For each index a threshold system has been set up, so to place each individual within a ‘low/medium/high’ trichotomous scale with respect to a given profile (for instance: ‘positive work-life balance’). See table 2 for indicators included in this index.

Figure 6

Perception of gender discrimination according to GDPI stratified by gender. GPDI: Gender Discrimination Perception Index. Each indicator was evaluated on a trichotomous ordinal scale (low/medium/high presence). Each mode was attributed a numerical value between 0 and 1. The results obtained for each individual indicator were then added. To make the results of the different indexes homogeneous, the value scale of each index has been equalised at a 0–10 range. For each index a threshold system has been set up, so to place each individual within a ‘low/medium/high’ trichotomous scale with respect to a given profile (for instance: ‘low perception of gender discrimination’). See table 2 for indicators included in this index.