Gender and professionalism: Does it matter?

Gender does matter, how do we get there and how do medical professionals become more mindful of the influence that gender has in our professional lives? There is value in building an inclusive environment that engages diverse perspectives in medicine. Evidence suggests we currently are neither adequately nor effectively accomplishing this goal. Intentionality to achieve this goal is important, and evidence-based solutions do exist. The social contract between medicine and society has been at the center of many discussions as medicine has evolved from a model of individual physicians practicing in local communities to one of employed physicians delivering care in large health care systems, impacting populations. At the core of this transformation is the recognition that the values of the caring physician who touches individual patients must be preserved at the organizational level if medical professionalism is to remain true to its core tenets of delivering professionalism and healing.