Gender in Medical Education: A National level course for Medical Educators

Published Date : 17 Oct 2022
CEHAT has been engaged in the issue of “Gender sensitivity in MBBS curriculum” since 2015. Since the revision of MBBS curriculum, medical colleges have become interested in developing their own competencies so that they can facilitate the same in their student population.
Karnataka state has taken this lead and collaborated with CEHAT to take the issue of Gender in Medical Education to their medical colleges. Bangalore medical college, Vani Vilas, Chikballapur, Bowring and St Johns a private medical college took the lead to participate in a 3-day workshop organised in Bangalore itself. A very reputed medical college IGIMS, Bihar also deputed its medical faculty for the workshop.
The training focused on understanding differences in “sex and Gender” and how these differences affect access to medical treatment and influence health seeking behaviors amongst men and women.
An important segment of the training was understanding sexuality, sexual identity and gender identity. Medical educators have very little exposure to understanding LGBTQI+ communities, this makes them carry stereotypes that lead to a biased approach.
Another important component was access to safe abortions and challenges faced by people seeking them. This component was also important in the light of the recent supreme court order recognizing that not just married women but several other women and girls need abortion services
Last but not the least the issue of gender-based violence and its disproportionate impact on women and role of health providers was also discussed
The training ended on a high note with different teams creating their own plans for steps to integrate these issues while teaching their students, organising student discussions, faculty meetings, student fests and so on. The highlight of the training was some of the feedback. In the words of a medical faculty- “This training has helped me to recognise – I have to unlearn, unlearn that everything about the patients’ health is not bio-medical but bio-psycho-social”. Another faculty member stated – “I always considered myself to be very sensitive – but this workshop helped me realise that even I carried covert biases, I have to discard them step by step”
The training ended on a high note of 25+ senior medical teachers committing themselves to championing the cause of integrating gender concerns in their teaching and becoming change agents themselves.
Source:https://www.cehat.org/trainingandeducation/1665992380