Professor Brad Frankum, NSW president of the AMA, said he has received numerous reports of women being asked about their plans to start a family during job interviews - a practice he says is unacceptable.
“People have said they were in the middle of a job interview and then the interviewer said, ‘Ok we’re going off the record for a minute’ and then off the record asked them whether they plan to have children,” he told SBS.
"We’ve had multiple examples of people being given oblique references, and almost implied threats, about not taking on the job if they were planning to have children in the next little period of time."
The practice was occurring predominantly in public hospitals, he said.
'Tip of the iceberg'
Mr Frankum raised the issue in an email to AMA members last Thursday, after it was brought to his attention by junior doctors in the AMA’s Doctors in Training committee.
In the past two days, he has received more than 20 responses from AMA members reporting instances of similar discrimination.
"To me that’s a sample suggesting it’s the tip of the iceberg really," he said.
A NSW Health spokeswoman condemned the practice.
"It is entirely inappropriate for anyone to be asked about their plans to start a family at job interviews in the NSW public health system," she said.
"Only questions directly related to the selection criteria should be asked during the selection process."
'Hospitals need to be penalised'
Mr Frankum said hospitals found to be involved in the practice needed to be put on notice and, ultimately, penalised.
There also needed to be greater flexibility in college training programs, which would enable junior doctors to take leave, he said.
"The sort of pressure our junior colleagues are under is unacceptable, and this is yet another stress that young doctors are dealing with," Mr Frankum said.
"I think given that we're graduating a significantly higher number of females in medicine than males, I’m a bit frustrated of the fact there is so much ongoing sexism in the profession."
