Surgeon title gets doctor’s approval

THE use of gendered titles, including Mr for surgeons, is being phased out to end discrimination against female surgeons and confusion for patients.

Former president of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and Launceston sur- geon of 40 years, Dr John Batten, has hailed the move.

College fellowship services committee chair Dr Christine Lai said gendered titles could contribute to implicit bias against female surgeons.

She said gendered titles for surgeons created power and status differences between surgeons and other medical professionals, male and female surgeons, and women who were married or unmarried.

“Many patients still question the qualifications of female surgeons,” Dr Lai said.

“We are all doctors. There is no reason to differentiate ourselves by including a reference to our gender in our title.

“Surgery is the only profession that continues to use gendered titles in Australia.

“While overt discrimination is no longer legally tolerated, there is still a subtle, implicit bias that can be perpetuated by gendered titles.”

Dr Batten said the title of Mr for surgeons dated back centuries.

“I very firmly believe mister is discriminatory and divisive and confusing for the general public,” he said.

“The number of female surgeons

is progressively increasing and the use of the title of Ms or Mrs is hard for the public to understand and this now enables everyone to be called doctor.”

There are 107 surgeons practising in Tasmania – 93 males and 14 females.

Dr Batten said the use of Mr was popular in Victoria where half of all surgeons used the title, but Mr was used less in NSW.

“We don’t want women discriminated against because they do the same training and are perfectly as capable as men,” he said.

Dr Lai said the use of the term Mr did not have relevance to surgical practice today.

“Gendered titles can be confusing for patients because they create the perception that Dr X and Mr Y have different qualifications, despite both being surgeons specialising in the same field,” she said.

“The gendered term somehow started to become attached to a certain prestige of being a surgeon and has carried forward to surgical practice today.”