Ophthalmology Education Leadership Attitudes Towards Gender-specific Mentorship

Abstract

Background:Despite relatively equal gender representation among US medical students, a gender gap exists in female representation within academic medicine. Numerous studies have emphasized the influence of gender-specific mentors in medical students' career decisions, but this has not been explored fully in ophthalmology. Therefore, this study evaluated ophthalmology educators’ attitudes towards gender-specific mentorship, to better understand how this relates to medical students’ decision to enter the field and their career development.Methods:A 22-question survey was sent to AUPO Department Chairs, Residency Program Directors, and Medical Student Educators. Additionally, the gender breakdown of current AUPO members was determined through a review of the AUPO membership directory. The authors also compared the number of female students applying to ophthalmology residency with the number of female ophthalmology faculty using AUPO and AAMC workforce data. Student’s t-tests and chi square were used for analysis.Results:75 members responded (23.7%), including 17 of 135 Chairs (12.6%), 34 of 114 PDs (29.8%), and 30 of 72 MSEs (41.7%). Of AUPO members, 85.2% of Chairs, 67.5% of Program Directors, and 43% of MSEs are male. Of respondents, 55.4% identified as female and 44.6% as male.Male and female members had 47.9% and 47.6% female mentees, respectively, (p=0.451). However, 21.2% of male and 56.1% of female members agreed that a mentee of the same gender was important, (p<0.01). Furthermore, 13 of 40 female members (32.5%) reported having a significant female mentor themselves vs. 1 of 29 male members (3%), (p<0.05).Conclusions:Male and female AUPO members reported no difference in the ratio of female mentees. However, female members were more likely to feel gender-specific mentorship was important, suggesting room for further development of this resource. Expansion of gender-specific mentorship in ophthalmology can promote equity in training and help address the lack of female representation in academic leadership.