Increasing Womenʼs Leadership in Academic Medicine

Abstract

The AAMC's Increasing Women's Leadership Project Implementation Committee examined four years of data on the advancement of women in academic medicine. With women comprising only 14% of tenured faculty and 12% of full professors, the committee concludes that the progress achieved is inadequate. Because academic medicine needs all the leaders it can develop to address accelerating institutional and societal needs, the waste of most women's potential is of growing importance. Only institutions able to recruit and retain women will be likely to maintain the best housestaff and faculty. The long-term success of academic health centers is thus inextricably linked to the development of women leaders. The committee therefore recommends that medical schools, teaching hospitals, and academic societies (1) emphasize faculty diversity in departmental reviews, evaluating department chairs on their development of women faculty; (2) target women's professional development needs within the context of helping all faculty maximize their faculty appointments, including helping men become more effective mentors of women; (3) assess which institutional practices tend to favor men's over women's professional development, such as defining "academic success" as largely an independent act and rewarding unrestricted availability to work (i.e., neglect of personal life); (4) enhance the effectiveness of search committees to attract women candidates, including assessment of group process and of how candidates' qualifications are defined and evaluated; and (5) financially support institutional Women in Medicine programs and the AAMC Women Liaison Officer and regularly monitor the representation of women at senior ranks.

Sex Differences in Faculty Rank Among Academic Cardiologists in the United States

“…Previous work has identified several drivers of sex differences in academic rank in medicine, including asymmetric home and childcare responsibilities between men and women, 21,22 lack of effective mentorship and role models for women, 23–25 lack of institutional support—particularly for early career female researchers 5 —inconsistent offering of alternative, and part-time tenure tracks for non-researchers, 26–29 sex bias favoring men in the NIH award application review process generally, and for RO1 awards and repeat funding in particular, 17,18 attrition of female academics at higher levels in the academic hierarchy, 30 overt sex discrimination, and unconscious sex bias. 8,12,13,25,30 Female cardiologists report having to contend with many of these challenges. For example, female cardiologists are more likely to delay getting married or starting a family in order to focus on their training.…”

Perceptions of Skill Development of Participants in Three National Career Development Programs for Women Faculty in Academic Medicine

“…Also, the proportion of respondents who were full professors (50%) far exceeded the national statistic (19%). 1 As with all on-line survey-based studies, only email recipients who were interested clicked on the link and the data consist entirely of participant perceptions – both of which create potential for voluntary, self-report, and/or recall biases. Additionally, cohort size placed a constraint on statistical analyses and precluded our offering more than tentative conclusions in some cases.…”

“…More than 10 years ago, the Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC) Increasing Women’s Leadership in Academic Medicine Project implementation committee indicated that “the long-term success of academic health centers is inextricably linked to the development of women leaders.” 1 Despite modest gains since then, women continue to be underrepresented, as compared with men, at the highest levels of academic rank and in leadership positions in academic medicine. 2 For example, from 1989 to 2011, the proportion of women holding department chair positions increased from 5% to only 13%.…”

Women in Medicine: Opportunities and Challenges, Attitudes of Shiraz Female Students About Their Job Satisfaction, 2014

“…Despite this increase, the percentage of women with master degree is still 11%, although the percentage of faculty members at the assistant professor level increased from 21% to 24% between 1995 and 2000. These differences demand understanding the women's needs and creating opportunities to encourage their greater contribution to the development and promotion of medical practice (3)(4)(5). The results also show that women have fewer roles as heads of departments, group manager, or assistants in various faculty departments.…”