Gender segregation in specialised medical training

The aim of this study is to investigate gender differences in educational pathways and access to the medical profession, identifying the psychological, cultural, and social factors that contribute to gender imbalances. Strong gender segregation within medical specialties emerges, often linked to inequalities in wages, career expectations, and social prestige. After analyzing the entire Italian territory, the study focuses on a local context: the Piedmont region which, with more than 4,000 students in the various medical courses of the Universities of Torino and Piemonte Orientale, represents an important point of observation. Data collection is ongoing and involves more than 400 students in their final year of medical school, who are going to choose whether to continue their studies within a medical specialisation school or to conclude their education after graduation. The questionnaire includes scales to measure: adherence to gender stereotypes (assessed with the Italian version of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, designed to evaluate self-image characterized by masculine - or instrumental- or feminine - or expressive- traits); general self-efficacy; career expectations (exploring areas such as competition, autonomy, management, and work-life balance); and family background and other sociodemographic variables. Two main hypotheses, consistent with existing literature, will be tested: i) Gender stereotypes are largely reproduced within the family environment. If this is the case, we should observe that students' future specialization preferences align more closely with gender stereotypes in families with lower cultural capital and in families where parents' roles conform more to traditional models. ii) Stereotyped educational paths tend to accumulate over time in a standardized pattern. If this is the case, we should find that male and female students who made educational choices based on gender stereotypes during secondary school are more likely to prefer medical specialization courses that are imbalanced in terms of gender.