The Open Women's Health Journal

2009, 3 : 5-10
Published online 2009 June 05. DOI: 10.2174/1874291200903010005
Publisher ID: TOWHJ-3-5

Complex Manifestations of Gender Disparity in Academic Medicine

Sari Landman and Vani Dandolu
Ob/Gyn, Urology and Public health, Residency Program Director, Director, Division of Urogynecology and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery, 3401 N Broad street, 7th floor Outpatient Building, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, USA;

ABSTRACT

Context:

More and more women are entering medical field and are becoming an integral part of academic medicine. However, they have yet to reach gender equality in terms of compensation, scholarship, and leadership, and most struggle to find the balance between work and home. We performed a systematic review of the literature to ascertain theobstacles women face in academic medicine and how best to overcome these hurdles and attain gender equity.

Data Sources and Data Synthesis:

A comprehensive literature search was performed using Ovid MEDLINE(R) InProcess & Other Non-Indexed Citations and Ovid MEDLINE(R) (1996 to Present); the terms “physicians, women” and “academic medicine” retrieved 751 results. Key articles were hand searched for relevant references. A combination of original research articles, commentaries, and editorials were reviewed. The articles were categorized into one of the following seven categories:

The Prevalence of Gender Discrimination in Medical Schools

Compensation in Academic Medicine

Research funding and Authorship in peer-reviewed journals

Advancement of Women to Leadership Positions

Mentoring

Targeted Intervention and Other Success Stories- how best to promote the development and retention of women faculty

Conclusions:

Gender disparity is extremely prevalent in academic medicine. Women lag behind men in several measures such as leadership, authorship, scholarship, advancement, and compensation. As the number of women entering medical school has increased, there is an urgent need to develop policies and programs targeted at the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women faculty in academic medicine. Several recent programs, such as the IMeRGE program at Emory University and the Claflin Distinguished Scholar Awards program at Massachusetts General Hospital, have proven successful in attaining some short-term degree of equality and fairness. If other institutions could establish similar programs, great strides would be made in reducing sex disparities in academic medicine. By altering the structure of academic medicine, to allow flexibility, women can succeed without sacrificing family time and can find a balance between work and home life without sacrificing career goals.