They save lives every day, but like all women, they also face some disturbing and dangerous situations at work. Two young doctors spoke to Brut about dealing with sexism.
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00:00A patient tried to misbehave with me. He started touching me. He was drunk.
00:04His response was,
00:06If you take so long to put on make-up and do your hair, this is what will happen.
00:16I'd be surprised if somebody told me that they'd not faced any sexism whatsoever.
00:21During my internship in a government set-up,
00:24where a patient tried to misbehave with me. He started touching me. He was drunk.
00:29There was a level of tolerance where I did allow it to happen.
00:32I was calm.
00:33And then when it started getting a bit more physical, a bit more aggressive,
00:37that's when I also tried to defend myself.
00:39So I have faced this.
00:41And all I was trying to do was help the patient.
00:43And it's really scary at times.
00:47You do feel scared.
00:49I was just going around, doing my work,
00:52when I heard a patient call them Maushi for like the third time.
00:56So I turned around and he's like,
00:59None of my male colleagues were ever referred to as Mama.
01:02They were always at least a Sir.
01:17I was working and I was explaining to a relative about the condition of the patient.
01:23And they were like,
01:26So my senior resident at the time,
01:29he came and he told them,
01:36Things like these will always re-instill faith and help you keep going.
01:47A senior consultant while on rounds was asking us questions.
01:51And I happened to falter a little bit while answering one of them.
01:56And his response was,
02:04I was a little bummed because I wasn't even wearing any makeup.
02:08My hair was just casually tied up.
02:11And why were my looks even being questioned?
02:13Is it wrong to want to look good?
02:21Apparently that means that you're not a good physician or a surgeon.
02:26Which is really ridiculous.
02:32I mean, after studying for five and a half years,
02:35putting in all the same work as my male colleagues,
02:39I'm still not considered good enough.
02:41And only because of my gender.
02:43We will still care for you the same way.
02:46So please do not try to categorize us just on the basis of something superficial like sex and gender.
02:52Because that's not going to change the fact that we are still doctors at the end of the day.
03:00It takes a toll on our mental health when we are subjected to such stereotypes.
03:04When our skills are judged just because we are of a particular sex.
03:11I constantly remind myself that I don't let this affect my work or my morale to work
03:17because I'm not going to wrong the profession I've chosen.
03:21No matter what the world says, you are going to get the same title.
03:24That is the title of DR in front of your names.
03:27Just as your male colleagues will.
03:29I'm a doctor. I'm going to save your life.