Addressing gender inequities: Creation of a multi‐institutional consortium of women physicians in academic emergency medicine

Abstract

Gender inequity is pervasive in medicine, including emergency medicine (EM), and is well documented in workforce representation, leadership, financial compensation, and resource allocation. The reasons for gender inequities in medicine, including academic EM, are multifactorial and include disadvantageous institutional parental, family, and promotion policies; workplace environment and culture; implicit biases; and a paucity of women physician leader role models, mentors, and sponsors. To address some of the challenges of gender inequities and career advancement for women in academic EM, we established an innovative, peer-driven, multi-institutional consortium of women EM faculty employed at four distinct hospitals affiliated with one medical school. The consortium combined financial and faculty resources to execute genderspecific programs not feasible at an individual institution due to limited funding and faculty availability. The programs included leadership skill-building and negotiation seminars for consortium members. The consortium created a collaborative community designed specifically to enrich career development for women in academic EM, with a formal organizational structure to connect faculty from four hospitals under one academic institution. The objective of this report is to describe the creation of this cross-institutional consortium focused on career development, academic productivity, and networking and sharing best practices for work-life integration for academic EM women faculty. This consortium-building model could be used to enhance existing institutional career development structures for women and other physician communities in academic medicine with unique career advancement challenges.

Salary disparities based on gender in academic emergency medicine leadership

“…There is a dearth of studies in the academic literature that describe solutions 15,25 . Wage audits, transparency, and pay standardization could all encourage the same starting salary for new faculty members.…”

Wondering If I’d Get There Quicker If I Was a Man: Factors Contributing to Delayed Academic Advancement of Women in Infectious Diseases

“…Thus, building a culture conducive to gender equity in academic medicine requires interventions both on the institutional and interpersonal levels [ 22 , 26 , 27 ]. Large-scale initiatives such as institutional workshops teaching intentional gender bias behavioral change [ 28 ] and innovative programs introduced at a national level by professional organizations [ 29 , 30 ] have shown positive effects at reducing gender bias and improving advancement disparities. Although large-scale cultural and institutional change is urgently needed to overcome hundreds of years of firmly rooted gender bias, even smaller scale local changes such as clean and convenient lactation rooms for nursing parents and ensuring women are proportionately represented on search and promotions committees can make a positive difference.…”

Incongruous identities: Mental distress and burnout disparities in LGBTQ+ health care professional populations

“…Rampant mistreatment is related to greater stress amongst professionals, poorer patient care, and higher staff turnover rates during the COVID-19 crisis [ 52 ]. Women professionals face similar interpersonal and systemic barriers to equitable treatment, including gender-based harassment and discrimination that influences home and child-rearing responsibilities, work compensation, and overall wellbeing [ 53 , 54 ].…”