Diverse ethnic and racial groups were a minority in my hometown in Pennsylvania. I was stereotyped by some of my peers because of my ethnic background and dealt with discouraging comments and actions. It felt as if I was walking around carrying a bag of rocks during my period of personal and professional growth, preventing me from reaching my full potential. However, as I advanced my career and surrounded myself with people who look more like me and treated me with respect, I was able to give a sigh of relief and take that bag of rocks off my shoulders.

Unfortunately, women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community can carry that bag of rocks throughout their entire career in medicine and within urology. At Penn State Urology, we have a diverse faculty that includes 5 women and multiple people of color, all of whom are fellowship-trained and highly successful. They all go the extra mile to make sure that we are receiving the best possible education, while also looking out for our wellness. However, we as residents have witnessed both our female attendings and attendings of color experience discouraging comments and remarks during patient encounters and more—despite their success and skill.

As members of the urological community, we must recognize that each person has different obstacles and challenges during their career path, and we need to work toward equity for all in the workplace. We made an oath to provide altruistic care to our patients; however, we must also extend this altruism to our colleagues, mentors, and students. We should use our positions of power and privilege to advocate for those in marginalized groups through allyship, which is defined as “active support for another group, specifically members of mistreated or minority groups, to which one does not belong.”

Major systemic changes are required to achieve equity in the workplace, and these will be slow. Improved equity in grant funding, mentorship/sponsorship, leadership opportunities, and compensation are all necessary. However, residents can act as allies on a day-to-day basis to support marginalized members of the urology workforce. The following are small, easy steps you can take to make a difference.

1. Speak up if you notice discrimination, even if these are in the form of microaggressions.
2. Support and advocate for initiatives involving promotion of females, people of color, or members of the LGBTQIA+ community to leadership roles.
3. When entering a patient room, introduce your female attending in the following manner: “This is my boss, Dr X, and she is your primary surgeon who will answer any questions you have.”
4. If your female coresident or attending is referred to as a nurse, be sure to correct the person who made that comment.
5. It is important to remind others that just because someone of color has an accent, it does not mean they are not fluent in English or are less educated than their colleagues.
6. Be sure to confirm how someone would like to be addressed and what pronouns they would like to use.
7. Discuss the importance of allyship with others within the work community.