Background: Female healthcare professionals face unique challenges related to maternity, including workplace discrimination, insufficient maternity leave policies, and inadequate breastfeeding support.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore these issues among female rheumatologists, other medical practitioners, and non-medical professionals across Latin America.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Spanish and Portuguese across 16 Latin American countries, targeting female rheumatologists, other medical professionals, and non-medical professionals. Data were collected on pregnancy history, workplace discrimination, maternity leave, and breastfeeding support. Quantitative analyses included measures of central tendency and comparative tests. Ethics committee approval was obtained.

Results: The survey included 679 participants, with the largest groups from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico. Among them, 62% were rheumatologists, 22% other medical professionals, and 16% non-medical professionals. Regarding pregnancy, 73.2% of rheumatologists reported having been pregnant at least once, compared to 71.4% of other medical professionals and 79.2% of non-medical professionals. When analyzing pregnancy history, 44.5% of rheumatologists reported having had two pregnancies, while 18.9% reported three or more. Among other medical professionals, 71.4% reported two pregnancies, with only 7.1% reporting three or more. Non-medical professionals exhibited a slightly different distribution, with 45.7% reporting two pregnancies and 20.5% three or more. Discrimination related to pregnancy was reported by 26.9% of rheumatologists during their training programs, and 21.9% were asked about the possibility of becoming pregnant during residency interviews. These experiences were less frequent among other medical professionals (21.8%) and non-medical professionals (17.8%). Workplace adjustments due to maternity were common. Among rheumatologists, 48.1% reported making changes to their work or academic plans to accommodate pregnancy, with 36% reducing working hours, 20.1% declining academic opportunities, and 13.7% doing both. After maternity leave, reductions in working hours were most frequently reported in Chile (71.4%) and Brazil (59.7%), while 33.9% of respondents in Argentina and 38.6% in Colombia reported making no changes. Regarding maternity leave, 48.2% of rheumatologists received fully paid leave for their first pregnancy, while 39.5% received partial pay, and 29.9% received no paid leave. Breastfeeding support was another area of concern; although 82.3% of rheumatologists breastfed after their first pregnancy, only 16.2% had access to time exclusively dedicated to breastfeeding at work. Furthermore, 54.7% indicated that their working conditions negatively influenced their breastfeeding ability, while 45.3% reported no significant impact.

Conclusion: This study highlights significant challenges faced by female healthcare professionals in Latin America, particularly rheumatologists, regarding maternity-related workplace adjustments, discrimination, and insufficient support for breastfeeding. Addressing these systemic barriers is essential to improve workplace equity and support for female professionals in the region.

REFERENCES: NIL.

Acknowledgements: NIL.

Disclosure of Interests: None declared.

© The Authors 2025. This abstract is an open access article published in Annals of Rheumatic Diseases under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ). Neither EULAR nor the publisher make any representation as to the accuracy of the content. The authors are solely responsible for the content in their abstract including accuracy of the facts, statements, results, conclusion, citing resources etc.