Women, Men, and Medical Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Shift to Online Learning and Gender’s Influence

Abstract

Introduction: In the time of COVID-19, various disciplines have moved to online learning, including medicine. Online learning, in the pandemic context, has allowed students to continue studying despite isolation requirements and quarantines being implemented in various countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The primary aim of this research was to determine how gender influences male and female medical students’ sudden shift to online learning in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: Through Microsoft Teams, the researcher was able to collect data via semi-structured interviews with the study participants. Purposive sampling was used to access a sample of male and female medical students in Saudi Arabia. The participants, 18 male and female undergraduate students studying medicine, attended Umm Al-Qura University or King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. this study employed a qualitative phenomenological approach to investigate the research question. Results and analysis: the thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed a total of nine themes that emerged from the collected data: shift to online learning and students' learning, shift to online learning and students' health-related behaviours, shift to online learning and students' dress, shift to online learning and students' commuting, shift to online learning and students' family responsibilities, gender differences in university regarding education, gender differences in university outside of the classroom, gender differences in dealing with patients as a student, and societal expectations and stereotypes regarding doctors. Conclusion: , the results suggest that there are some significant differences in how male and female students experience medical education, particularly with regards to how students are treated by their professors inside and outside of the classroom and doctors in the clinical setting. Educators and administrators should strive to promote greater gender equality in medical education programs. Future experimental research should consider exploring what strategies might be employed to achieve greater gender equality in medical education.