Getting In but Not Getting On: Inequality Regimes, Usurpation and Resistance in the Medical Profession

This article explores inequality regimes in medicine, examining structures that create social closure and explaining the under-representation of women from racio-ethnic minorities at senior levels and in high-status specialties. We juxtapose these with agency to evidence how inequality regimes are experienced and navigated through accommodatory usurpation and everyday resistance. Drawing on 26 interviews with women of varying racio-ethnic backgrounds, the findings illustrate deeply embedded inequality regimes that maintain White, male norms; individual agency did not change these regimes, meaning women could progress only where they could comply with them. We contribute to the understanding of inequality in medicine, where women’s experiences remain under-researched. We also contribute to inequalities theory and the understanding of change by offering a rare juxtaposition of structural inequality with individual agency to evidence the latter’s limitations. We argue that collective agency is needed to create radical change and enable women’s progression. Practically, we argue for collective organisational change driven, potentially, by coalition building.