The Illusion of Choice: Gender Segregation and the Challenge of Recruiting Women to Radiology

Abstract

In recent decades, the feminization of medicine has promised equal educational and professional opportunities for women pursuing medical careers [ 1 Ross S. The feminization of medicine. Virtual Mentor. 2003; 5 Google Scholar , 2 Boulis A.K. Jacobs J.A. The changing face of medicine: women doctors and the evolution of health care in America. ILR, Ithaca, New York2008 Google Scholar , 3 Alers M. van Leerdam L. Dielissen P. Lagro-Janssen A. Gendered specialties during medical education: a literature review. Perspect Med Educ. 2014; 3: 163-178 Crossref PubMed Scopus (35) Google Scholar ]. Yet despite encouraging statistics that now show near even numbers of women (48%) and men (52%) enrolled in US medical schools [ 4 Association of American Medical Colleges. Total enrollment by U.S. medical school and sex 2012-2013 through 2016-2017. Available at: https://www.aamc.org/download/321526/data/factstableb1-2.pdf. Accessed January 14, 2017. Google Scholar , 5 Zener R. Lee S.Y. Visscher K.L. Ricketts M. Speer S. Wiseman D. Women in radiology: exploring the gender disparity. J Am Coll Radiol. 2016; 13: 344-350 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (63) Google Scholar ], vast inequalities remain. Radiology is just one example of the persistent gender gap that plagues many medical specialties, with women representing fewer than 30% of total practicing radiologists and trainees in the United States [ 6 Chapman C.H. Hwang W.T. Both S. Thomas C.R. Deville C. Current status of diversity by race, Hispanic ethnicity, and sex in diagnostic radiology. Radiology. 2014; 270: 232-240 Crossref PubMed Scopus (118) Google Scholar , 7 Fielding J.R. Major N.M. Mullan B.F. et al. Choosing a specialty in medicine: female medical students and radiology. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2007; 188: 897-900 Crossref PubMed Scopus (61) Google Scholar , 8 Deitch C.H. Sunshine J.H. Chan W.C. Shaffer K.A. Women in the radiology profession: data from a 1995 national survey. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 1998; 170: 263-270 Crossref PubMed Scopus (52) Google Scholar ]. Radiology educators have long debated the most effective means by which to improve the recruitment of women to our field, but they have managed to identify only potential contributing factors [ 9 Potterton V.K. Ruan S. Sunshine J.H. Applegate K. Cypel Y. Forman H.P. Why don’t female medical students choose diagnostic radiology? A review of the current literature. J Am Coll Radiol. 2004; 1: 583-590 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (52) Google Scholar , 10 Lightfoote J.B. Deville C. Ma L.D. Winkfield K.M. Macura K.J. Diversity, inclusion, and representation: it is time to act. J Am Coll Radiol. 2016; 13: 1421-1425 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (58) Google Scholar ].