Addressing Gender Disparity: Increase in Female Leadership Increases Gender Equality in Program Director and Fellow...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Gastroenterology
• Gender Studies in Medicine

Background:

• Women are underrepresented in gastroenterology (GI) practice, holding only 15% of practicing physician roles.
• Significant gender disparities exist in GI leadership and trainee positions within academic programs.
• The relationship between female leadership and the number of female trainees in GI fellowships is not well-understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between female leadership in gastroenterology fellowship programs and the number of female trainees.
• To assess if increased female representation in leadership roles correlates with more female program directors and fellows.

Main Methods:

• Data collected from 173 US gastroenterology fellowship programs up to October 2018.
• Information on program director, division chief, and chair gender and academic rank was gathered from program websites and surveys.
• Statistical analysis, including Chi-square and independent samples t-tests, was used to assess associations.

Main Results:

• Men hold a majority of leadership positions: 86% of chairs, 82% of division chiefs, 76% of program directors.
• Programs with female program directors or associate program directors showed a trend towards more female fellows.
• The presence of any female leader was significantly associated with an increase in the number of female fellows (p=0.007).

Conclusions:

• Women remain significantly underrepresented in gastroenterology at all professional levels.
• Increasing female representation in GI fellowship leadership is linked to a higher number of female program directors and trainees.
• Promoting women into leadership roles may help reduce gender disparity and encourage more women to pursue GI careers.