More than a decade with 'gender on the agenda': have we made progress?

As female clinical academics and members of the British Journal of Anaesthesia (BJA), we recognise the importance of gender equity, which remains an issue in academic medicine, despite the increase in the proportion of women in medical schools throughout the world. This inequity is most apparent at senior leadership levels, with the number of female professors in anaesthesia remaining in single digits in the UK, and at about 25% of full professors in the USA. A strong publication record is an important promotion metric in academia. In a 2013 analysis, only 39% of first and senior authors published in the BJA were women, whereas in our recent analysis, this proportion improved to 54%. The benefits of having increased representation of women as leaders are unequivocal, requiring active strategies to accelerate any progress that has been made. Initiatives such as the current BJA Special Issue on Women in Anaesthesia Research are key elements in this process.