Institutional Support for the Career Advancement of Women Faculty in Science and Academic Medicine: Successes, Challenges, and Future Directions.

Institutional support is crucial for the successful career advancement of all faculty but in particular those who are women. Evolving from the past, in which gender disparities were prevalent in many institutions, recent decades have witnessed significant progress in supporting the career advancement of women faculty in science and academic medicine. However, continued advancement is necessary as previously unrecognized needs and new opportunities for improvement emerge. To identify the needs, opportunities, and potential challenges encountered by women faculty, the Women's Leadership Committee of the Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology Council developed an initiative termed GROWTH (Generating Resources and Opportunities for Women in Technology and Health). The committee designed a survey questionnaire and interviewed 19 leaders with roles and responsibilities in faculty development from a total of 12 institutions across various regions of the United States. The results were compiled, analyzed, and discussed. Based on our interviews and analyses, we present the current status of these representative institutions in supporting faculty development, highlighting efforts specific to women faculty. Through the experiences, insights, and vision of these leaders, we identified success stories, challenges, and future priorities. Our article provides a primer and a snapshot of institutional efforts to support the advancement of women faculty. Importantly, this article can serve as a reference and resource for academic entities seeking ideas to gauge their commitment level to women faculty and to implement new initiatives. Additionally, this article can provide guidance and strategies for women faculty as they seek support and resources from their current or prospective institutions when pursuing new career opportunities.

Mind the Gap! Working Toward Gender Equity in Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease: Present and Future.

Evidence from medicine and other fields has shown that gender diversity results in better decision making and outcomes. The incoming workforce of congenital heart specialists (especially in pediatric cardiology) appears to be more gender balanced, but past studies have shown many inequities. Gender-associated differences in leadership positions, opportunities presented for academic advancement, and recognition for academic contributions to the field persist. In addition, compensation packages remain disparate if evaluated based on gender with equivalent experience and expertise. This review explores these inequities and has suggested individual and institutional changes that could be made to recruit and retain women, monitor the climate of the institution, and identify and eliminate bias in areas like salary and promotions.

Online images amplify gender bias.

Each year, people spend less time reading and more time viewing images1, which are proliferating online2-4. Images from platforms such as Google and Wikipedia are downloaded by millions every day2,5,6, and millions more are interacting through social media, such as Instagram and TikTok, that primarily consist of exchanging visual content. In parallel, news agencies and digital advertisers are increasingly capturing attention online through the use of images7,8, which people process more quickly, implicitly and memorably than text9-12. Here we show that the rise of images online significantly exacerbates gender bias, both in its statistical prevalence and its psychological impact. We examine the gender associations of 3,495 social categories (such as 'nurse' or 'banker') in more than one million images from Google, Wikipedia and Internet Movie Database (IMDb), and in billions of words from these platforms. We find that gender bias is consistently more prevalent in images than text for both female- and male-typed categories. We also show that the documented underrepresentation of women online13-18 is substantially worse in images than in text, public opinion and US census data. Finally, we conducted a nationally representative, preregistered experiment that shows that googling for images rather than textual descriptions of occupations amplifies gender bias in participants' beliefs. Addressing the societal effect of this large-scale shift towards visual communication will be essential for developing a fair and inclusive future for the internet.

Women Anesthesiologists in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Pre-COVID Era: A Multinational Demographic Study.

BACKGROUND: Gender imbalance and poor representation of women complicate the anesthesiology workforce crisis in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study was performed to obtain a better understanding of gender disparity among medical graduates and anesthesiologists in SSA. METHODS: Using a quantitative, participatory, insider research study, led by female anesthesiologists as the national coordinators in SSA, we collected data from academic or national health authorities and agencies. National coordinators were nominees of anesthesiology societies that responded to our email invitations. Data gathered from 13 countries included information on medical graduates, anesthesiologists graduating between 1998 and 2021, and number of anesthesiologists licensed to practice in 2018. We compared data between Francophone and Anglophone countries, and between countries in East Africa and West Africa/Central Africa. We calculated anesthesiology workforce densities and compared representation of women among graduating anesthesiologists and medical graduates.Data analysis was performed using linear regression. We used F-tests on regression slopes to assess the trends in representation of women over the years and the differences between the slopes. A value of P < .050 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Over a 20-year period, the representation of female medical graduates in SSA increased from 29% (1998) to 41% (2017), whereas representation of female anesthesiologists was inconsistent, with an average of 25%, and lagged behind. Growth and gender disparity patterns were different between West Africa/Central Africa and East Africa. Representation of female anesthesiologists was higher in East Africa (39.4%) than West Africa/Central Africa (19.7%); and the representation of female medical graduates in East Africa (42.5%) was also higher that West Africa/Central Africa (33.1%). CONCLUSIONS: On average, in SSA, female medical graduates (36.9%), female anesthesiologists (24.9%), and female anesthesiology residents projected to graduate between 2018 and 2022 (25.2%) were underrepresented when compared to their male counterparts. Women were underrepresented in SSA, despite evidence that their representation in medicine and anesthesiology in East African countries was rising.

Trends Among Women in Academic Medicine Faculty Ranks.

Introduction: Similar proportions of women and men have entered medical school since 2003. However, career advancement and promotion for women continues to be fraught with disparities and inequalities. Building on current literature, this study explores the rates of change of female faculty in faculty ranks over the last 10 years to gain a more comprehensive view of the faculty trends of women in academic medicine. Methods: Using the Faculty Administrative Management Online User System database, counts by gender and faculty rank at each Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) academic medical school were obtained. Statistical analysis was done using generalized estimating equations modeling to assess rates of change for each gender from 2012 to 2021. Results: Higher proportions of female faculty are concentrated at the Instructor and Assistant Professor level and lower proportions at the Associate Professor and Professor rank compared to male faculty. Over the study period, female faculty showed increased rate change compared to male faculty of 1.007 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.002-1.012) for Associate Professor rank and 1.012 (95% CI: 1.007-1.016) for Professor rank. At the Instructor and Assistant Professor levels, female faculty decreased at a relative rate of 0.980 (95% CI: 0.969-0.990) and 0.995 (95% CI: 0.992-0.997) each year, respectively. Conclusion: Female faculty continue to be concentrated at the junior faculty rank. Rate changes at the senior faculty rank for female faculty have slightly improved over the last 10 years compared to male faculty. However, this improvement is minimal, and work is still needed to achieve true gender equity in academic medicine.

Saúde sexual e reprodutiva na atenção primária à saúde: relatos de mulheres lésbicas / Salud sexual y reproductiva en la atención primaria de salud: informes de mujeres lesbianas / Sexual and reproductive health in primary health care: reports of lesbian women

Objetivo: analisar relatos de mulheres lésbicas acerca dos atendimentos à saúde sexual e reprodutiva em serviços de Atenção Primária à Saúde. Método: estudo qualitativo do tipo exploratório descritivo realizado em 2019. Dez mulheres lésbicas expuseram seus relatos em duas sessões de grupo focal, estratégia que gerou os dados da pesquisa. Estes foram submetidos à análise de conteúdo do tipo temática. Resultados: as participantes expressaram aspectos culturais desafiadores para a qualidade das abordagens, como preconceito, objetificação do corpo, aceitação da homossexualidade e desconhecimento de suas práticas afetivo-sexuais. Compreendiam que suas necessidades de saúde sexual e reprodutiva não eram atendidas, conforme elas mesmas as definiam, mas reconheceram empatia e acolhimento na interação com alguns profissionais de saúde. Considerações finais: revelaram-se atendimentos influenciados por estereótipos de gênero e sexualidade, o que reduz o acesso a uma Atenção Primária à Saúde de qualidade, promotora do cuidado para com a saúde de mulheres lésbicas.

Objetivo: analisar relatos de mulheres lésbicas acerca dos atendimentos à saúde sexual e reprodutiva em serviços de Atenção Primária à Saúde. Método: estudo qualitativo do tipo exploratório descritivo realizado em 2019. Dez mulheres lésbicas expuseram seus relatos em duas sessões de grupo focal, estratégia que gerou os dados da pesquisa. Estes foram submetidos à análise de conteúdo do tipo temática. Resultados: as participantes expressaram aspectos culturais desafiadores para a qualidade das abordagens, como preconceito, objetificação do corpo, aceitação da homossexualidade e desconhecimento de suas práticas afetivo-sexuais. Compreendiam que suas necessidades de saúde sexual e reprodutiva não eram atendidas, conforme elas mesmas as definiam, mas reconheceram empatia e acolhimento na interação com alguns profissionais de saúde. Considerações finais: revelaram-se atendimentos influenciados por estereótipos de gênero e sexualidade, o que reduz o acesso a uma Atenção Primária à Saúde de qualidade, promotora do cuidado para com a saúde de mulheres lésbicas.

Objective: to analyze reports of lesbian women about sexual and reproductive health care in Primary Health Care services. Method: descriptive exploratory qualitative study conducted in 2019. Ten lesbian women exposed their reports in two focus group sessions, a strategy that generated the research data. These were submitted to thematic content analysis. Results: the participants expressed challenging cultural aspects for the quality of approaches, such as prejudice, body objectification, acceptance of homosexuality and ignorance of their affective-sexual practices. They understood that their sexual and reproductive health needs were not met, as they defined themselves, but recognized empathy and welcoming in the interaction with some health professionals. Final considerations: care was revealed influenced by gender and sexuality stereotypes, which reduces access to quality Primary Health Care, which would support health care for lesbian women..

Guía de comunicación con perspectiva de género en salud / Communication guide with a gender perspective in health

Guía realizada en el marco de la Beca de Capacitación "Estrategias comunicacionales de prevención de las violencias de género" otorgada por la Dirección General de Docencia, Investigación, y Desarrollo Profesional del Ministerio de Salud del Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Se basa en el entendimiento de que las prácticas del lenguaje son parte de una distribución de poder, y que es posible utilizar alternativas lingüísticas que promuevan una perspectiva igualitaria como garantía de derechos y como herramienta para influir positivamente en las prácticas y también en la percepción de la realidad. Se presenta como un documento técnico, a modo de guía de estilo, que permite abordar las producciones escritas, orales y gráficas de manera inclusiva, desde el marco de la perspectiva de derechos, con el propósito principal de construir igualdad de géneros..(AU)

Sexismo, pensamientos distorsionados y violencia en las relaciones de pareja en estudiantes universitarios de Ecuador de áreas relacionadas con el bienestar y la salud / Sexism, Distorted Thoughts and Violence in Couple Relationships in Ecuadorian Universities with Students Related to Welfare and Health

Resumen Este estudio tiene como objetivo analizar las relaciones entre las actitudes sexistas, los pensamientos distorsionados sobre la mujer y el uso de la violencia y los comportamientos de violencia con la pareja, en universitarios ecuatorianos de ramas relacionas con el bienestar y la salud. La muestra está conformada por 646 alumnos de tres universidades (424 alumnas y 222 alumnos). Se aplicaron los siguientes instrumentos: Versión modificada de la Escala de Tácticas para los Conflictos, Inventario de Sexismo Ambivalente, Inventario de Pensamientos Distorsionados y Escala de Deseabilidad Social. Para la detección de diferencias estadísticamente significativas, se aplicó el test de Mann Whitney y el test de Kruskal Wallis. Para estimar el efecto de la deseabilidad social en las respuestas, se realizaron diferentes regresiones lineales. Los resultados identifican un alto nivel de sexismo y de violencia ejercida y sufrida en la muestra de universitarios, aunque estos parecen estar influidos por la deseabilidad social. Este hecho cobra especial relevancia debido al papel que juegan estos profesionales en la detección y tratamiento de violencia en la pareja. Los resultados obtenidos indican la oportunidad de trabajar en intervenciones educativas en población universitaria para minimizar los pensamientos sexistas que pueden ser fundamento de la violencia de género.

Abstract This study aims to analyze the relationships between sexist attitudes, distorted thoughts about women, the use of violence and violent behaviors in couples. The study was carried out in Ecuadorian universities with students related to Welfare and Health studies. There were 646 students from three universities (424 men and 222 women). The following tests were applied: Modified version of the Scale Conflict Tactics, Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, Inventory of Distorted Thoughts and Social Desirability Scale. The Mann-Whitney and Kruskal Wallis tests were applied to detect statistically significant differences. In order to estimate the effect of social desirability on responses it was performed different linear regressions. The results identify high levels of sexism and perpetrated and suffered violence, although these results seemed to be influenced by social desirability. This becomes especially important due to the role played by these professionals in the detection and treatment of intimate partner violence. The results show the importance to work on educational interventions in universities to minimize sexist thoughts that cause violence against women.