How Can More Women be Elected to Leadership Positions in Medical Specialty Societies?

Abstract

To the Editor: We read with interest Jagsi and colleagues’ study titled “Women’s Representation Among Members and Leaders of National Medical Specialty Societies,”1 which found that in 30 major medical specialties, the percentages of women who were among the highest-ranking elected society leaders between 2000 and 2015 ranged from 0% to 37.5%. A low proportion of women serving on governing boards (0%–47.6%) likely contributed to this finding. Although representation in some societies has improved, in others, it has stayed the same or regressed. Those findings complement prior research2 that showed that women are underrepresented, frequently at zero or near-zero levels, in presidential leadership positions within influential physician-focused medical societies. Over a 10-year span (2008–2017), 10 societies had no women presidential leaders. For all of the societies studied, men served as presidents for 82.6% of the cumulative years across all societies (322 of 390 years) and women for only 17.4% of those years (68 of 390 years). To our knowledge, data surrounding challenges for women from groups underrepresented in medicine in elected leadership positions have not been evaluated, but we presume that the underrepresentation issues would be intensified in these groups. One question follows naturally: “Why are women underrepresented in high-ranking elected leadership positions?” A survey study3 of more than 1,200 women physicians found that they are less likely to run for elected positions after graduating from medical school, despite the fact that a majority of women surveyed believed there should be more women in leadership.3 Although 43.2% of women considered running for office, only 16.7% actually ran. Barriers cited were lack of protected time, work support, experience, and mentorship. Fewer than 1 out of 3 respondents were previously encouraged to run for elected office by someone else, and only 8.3% of respondents were encouraged to run by a supervisor. This study highlights an opportunity to provide additional resources to encourage and support women physicians in their pursuit of leadership positions. As Jagsi and colleagues1 suggest, women in medicine face significant disparities regarding leadership. It is now time to focus on how more highly talented and qualified women physicians and scientists can be elected to top leadership positions, especially in professional medical societies. These societies significantly impact every aspect of academic medicine, and it has never been more crucial to close gender-related leadership gaps.