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- Page navigation anchor for Race is so much more than visual perceptionsRace is so much more than visual perceptions
This study is ground-breaking. An honest look at the impact of the racial and gender attainment gap in medical careers. I understand why this method of racial measurement was needed. You have worked within the confines of the data available to you to shine a light that is much overdue. Thank you.
As a racialized woman, the co-founder and inaugural chair of the Racialized Residents at McMaster group, and as an EDI researcher, your paper has struck a chord. We must critique how race and racialization are discussed.
The Canadian Census does not collect data on race. Your Supplementary table outlines the use of the visible minority proxy measurement as a comparator in your Methods. Visible Minority is a unique term to Canada, not comparable to any International standard, enshrined in the Employment Equity Act, and conflates ethnic origins with race; with “racial” categories like Chinese, Korean, and sweeping categories like “Latin American” –discounting the diverse racial entities living there.(1) This prevents the study of race and international comparisons as it fails to capture the self-identity and lived experience of race. Racialization is the process of the meanings individuals attach to everyday experiences (racism, micro aggressions, structural racism, colonialism). (2) It defines people based on having lived through racism. Examples of racializing experiences are often of interactions based on our perceived race (as you have highlighted), but are not t...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: A Menezes is a co-founder of the Racialized residents at McMaster group. Bother authors are researchers with the DARe Group which focusses on researching racial demographic differences in medical academic and career attainment, and as such are involved in studying the measurement of race.References
- Anjali Sergeant, Sudipta Saha, Anushka Lalwani, et al. Diversity among health care leaders in Canada: a cross-sectional study of perceived gender and race. CMAJ 2022;194:E371-E377.
- Government of Canada SC. Visible Minority and Population Group Reference Guide, Census of Population, 2016. 2017; published online Oct 25. https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/guides/006/98-500-x2016006-eng.cfm (accessed Jan 30, 2022).
- Gonzalez-Sobrino B, Goss DR. Exploring the mechanisms of racialization beyond the black–white binary. Ethnic and Racial Studies 2019; 42: 505–10.
- United States Medical Licensing Examination | Invitational Conference on USMLE Scoring. https://www.usmle.org/incus/ (accessed July 8, 2021).
- GMC. GMC targets elimination of disproportionate complaints and training inequalities. General Medical Council, UK. 2021. https://www.gmc-uk.org/news/news-archive/gmc-targets-elimination-of-disproportionate-complaints-and-training-inequalities (accessed
- Page navigation anchor for RE: Diversity among health care leaders in Canada: a cross-sectional study of perceived gender and raceRE: Diversity among health care leaders in Canada: a cross-sectional study of perceived gender and race
In Ontario, my own province, the researchers found gender parity, but a more than 20% gap between racialized hospital executives (12.2%) and the self-identified racialized populations (33.4%) they serve. The gap is even wider in urban centres.
Why does this matter?
We have no shortage of seemingly intractable problems we are trying to solve to make things better for patients and their families. It’s why so many of us were attracted to working in the health system.
More than ever, amid a pandemic and related health human resource crisis, we need diversity of thought, voices, and ways of working to have the best chance of achieving an equitable health system recovery.
At my organization, Ontario Health, our Equity, Inclusion, Diversity and Anti-Racism framework (https://www.ontariohealth.ca/sites/ontariohealth/files/2020-12/Equity%20...) includes an aim to reflect the populations we serve. We recognize we have a long way to go. However, if we fully commit to this aim, we won’t fail to have people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, Indigenous leaders, Black leaders, trans people, people from different socioeconomic strata, and people with disabilities in leadership roles.
Our health system has made more progress than I could have imagined when I was a child. We should celebrate the gender parity we have achieved. But we have...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.References
- Anjali Sergeant, Sudipta Saha, Anushka Lalwani, et al. Diversity among health care leaders in Canada: a cross-sectional study of perceived gender and race. CMAJ 2022;194:E371-E377.