Social networking has become that bit harder during a pandemic in which much face-to-face contact has been heavily prohibited.  Even when networking has been possible, however, research from Northwestern Medicine shows that men seem to benefit from it more than women.

At least that’s the case in the medical world, where the researchers found that male physicians benefit considerably more than female physicians from networking on social media.  Indeed, female physicians were also far more likely to receive unwanted sexual attention on social media than their male peers.  The authors argue that the findings mirror the difficulties women face in trying to advance their careers in the real world.

“There’s been this line of thinking that social media can be used to level the playing field and give women equal opportunities, but it turns out the same biases that promote men are occurring online as well,” the researchers say. “Women are not reaping the benefits of social media, and they’re doing so in the face of more online harassment.”

Gender biases

The results are especially worrying as so much of our lives have shifted online during the pandemic.  The findings emerged after several hundred physicians were surveyed to understand how they used social media to collaborate with peers at other institutions and secure professional development such as speaking engagements or scholarship opportunities.

The results reveal that while social media has helped to expand the professional networks of both men and women, men were more likely to have gained professionally from this expansion.  For instance, 39% of men were likely to have been offered talks, versus just 30% of women.

This is perhaps due to the differences in how men and women were using social media, with men more likely to use the platforms for research and educational purposes, whereas women were more likely to use them for social support.  The authors argue that this is probably because men don’t face the same level of discrimination or sexual harassment as women, and therefore don’t require the same level of support from their same-gendered peers.

“We did not address this in our survey, but it may be likely that women also use social media to voice and address these gender inequities,” they say. “Simply put, women physicians may not be afforded the luxury of browsing social media solely for scholarly purposes.”

“There are strategies and solutions to ensure these inequities do not persist,” the researchers conclude. “Groups such as Women of Impact and the Women in Medicine Summit have created strategic social media amplifiers to lift up the voices of those that are often underrepresented. Others, such as IMPACT and Dear Pandemic, have leveraged social media to collaboratively lift up the voices of women experts while also becoming trusted resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.”