Gender inequality among medical, pharmaceutical and dental practitioners in French hospitals: Where have we been and where are we now?

Abstract

Introduction Women are under-represented in senior academic and hospital positions in many countries. The authors aim to assess the place and the evolution of all appointed female and male health practitioners’ working in French public Hospitals. Materials and methods Data of this observational study were collected from the National Management Centre (Centre National de Gestion) from 2015 up to January 1, 2020. First, the authors described demographic characteristics and specialties of all appointed medicine, pharmacy, and dentistry doctors’ working as Hospital Practitioners, Associate Professors, and Full Professors in French General and University-affiliated Hospitals in 2020. Then, they retrospectively reported the annual incidence of new entrance according to gender and professional status from 1999 to 2019 thanks to the appointment date of all practitioners in activity between 2015 and 2020. Results In 2020, 51 401 appointed practitioners (49.7% of female) were in activity in French public hospitals with a large majority being medical doctors (92.4%) compared to pharmacists (6%) and dentists (1.6%). Women represented 52.5% of the Hospital Practitioners, 48.6% of the Associate Professors, and 22.0% of the Full Professors (p < 0.001). There were disparities between the rates of female Full Professors in medicine (20.6%), pharmacy (36.1%), and dentistry (44.3%, p < 0.001). Women were appointed Hospital Practitioners and Associate Professors earlier than men (respectively 37.1 versus 38.8 years, p < 0.001 and 36.1 versus 36.5 years, p = 0.04), and at a later age among Full Professors (43.7 versus 41.9 years, p < 0.001). Compared to men, the annual proportion of appointed women varied significantly between 1999 and 2019 from 47.6% to 60.4% for Hospital Practitioners, from 50.0% to 44.6% for Associate Professors, and from 11.2% to 33.3% for Full Professors (p < 0.001 for trend). Conclusions Although more and more women occupy positions in French hospitals, there is still a gender gap regarding access to Full Professor status in medicine and pharmacy, but not in dentistry. The disparity in numbers makes comparison difficult. Despite a trend towards gender equality during the last twenty years, it has not yet been achieved regarding access to the highest positions.

Gender inequality for tenure as Full Professor of medicine in France

“…This favors an earlier tenure by removing an additional step in the career of some male practitioners. In 2020, Associate Professorships in Medicine were held by about as many women (49,6%) as men (50,4%), reflecting a gender equality for this position 2 In the present study, we showed that the gender inequality appears only in achieving Full Professor status (32,4% vs 67,6%).…”

“…Indeed, the number of women increases gradually in all the Hospital and University fields (Practitioners and Professors) but slower for the Full Professor positions. 2 , 4…”

“…Various studies have identified the under-representation of women in high academic positions in many countries. 1 , 2 , 3 This study aims to compare degrees and careers between French men and women tenured as Full Professors of Medicine in recent years.…”

Views, knowledge, and practices of hospital pharmacists about using clinical pharmacokinetics to optimize pharmaceutical care services: a cross-sectional study

“…Similarly, the hospital pharmacists who were male and those who obtained their pharmacy degrees from a foreign country were more likely to agree on the relevance of their PK courses to their current practice. Previous studies have shown that male and foreign qualified professionals were more likely to assume managerial/decision-making roles compared to female and nationally qualified professionals [ 35 – 37 ].…”

Addressing inequities in pharmaceutical education with an International Pharmaceutical Federation toolkit

“…Gender inequity is a worldwide issue that is increasingly being discussed in the public sphere (le Boedec et al, 2021), and it is crucial that women and girls have equal rights and opportunities to obtain a sustainable role in society (Bukhari et al, 2020). Gender inequities exist in education careers, for example, this applies to pharmacy/pharmaceutical sciences with academic women in pharmaceutical education.…”