Breaking the Glass Ceiling? Gender Dynamics in Turkish Dental Faculty Leadership

Despite the increasing representation of women in the dental profession, gender inequality remains in academic leadership roles. This study aimed to evaluate the gender distribution of academics and deans working in dental faculties in Türkiye.

A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was conducted using publicly available data from 154 dental faculties (73 state and 81 foundation) between January and March 2025. Information was collected from 3061 academics, including their gender, academic title, specialty, and university affiliation. Gender classification was confirmed using the records of the Council of Higher Education and cross-validated using the Gender API and NamSor software. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS Statistics (version 23).

Among participants, 62.3% were women and 37.7% were men. Notably, women outnumbered men in nearly all academic ranks, with the highest proportion observed among lecturers (76.5%). Most professors were also women (51.5%), highlighting a remarkable shift in traditional academic gender dynamics. The gender distribution varied across disciplines: women were predominant in pedodontics (80.5%) and restorative dentistry (70%), while men were predominant in oral surgery (62.5%) and implantology (83.3%). In contrast, only 25.8% of deans were women, indicating persistent underrepresentation in high-level administrative positions. Gender detection tools showed high concordance with the actual data (Cohen's κ > 0.91).

Although women represent the majority of academics in Turkish dental faculties, a significant gender gap remains in the top leadership roles. Institutional policies and targeted mentorship programs are needed to promote gender equity in academic advancement and decision-making.