Women in Academic Medicine

Abstract

More than a decade ago, women achieved parity with men in the number of matriculants to medical school, nearly one-third of the faculty of medical schools were women, and there were some women deans and department chairs. These trends were promising, but today there are still significant differences in pay, academic rank, and leadership positions for women compared with men in academic medicine. Though there has been progress in many areas, the progress is too slow to achieve previously recommended goals, such as 50% women department chairs by 2025 and 50% women deans by 2030.The author points to the findings presented in the articles from the Research Partnership on Women in Biomedical Careers in this issue, as well as research being published elsewhere, as an evidence base for the ongoing discussion of gender equity in academic medicine. More attention to culture and the working environment will be needed to achieve true parity for women in academic medical careers.