Women in the Medical Physics Workforce: Insights from Membership Trends of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, 1993 to 2023

Abstract

PurposeWomen remain underrepresented in medical physics in the United States, and determinants of persisting disparities remain unclear. Here, we performed a detailed investigation of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) membership trajectories to evaluate trends in Full membership with respect to gender, age, and highest degree. MethodsMembership data, including gender, date of birth, highest degree, membership type, and years of active membership for 1993-2023 were obtained from AAPM. Group I included Full members who joined AAPM in 1993 or later. A subset of Group I including only members who joined and left AAPM since 1993 (former members, Group IF) was used to calculate age at membership cessation and duration. Results were compared by gender and highest degree. A Kaplan-Meier analysis was also used to evaluate membership “survival” by age and highest degree. ResultsComplete data were available for 6,647 current and former Full members (Group I), including 2,211 former members (Group IF). On average, women became Full members at a significantly younger age than men (34.6 vs. 37.5 years of age, p<0.001) and ended their memberships (if applicable) at a significantly younger age than men (46.1 vs. 50.1 years of age, p<0.001). The Kaplan-Meier “survival” analysis showed that for a given age, women were at a significantly greater risk of membership cessation than men, and women with master's degrees had the lowest membership survival of any gender/degree subgroup. When analyzing by membership duration, there was no difference in survival by gender alone. Still, women with PhDs were found to have the greatest membership survival among gender/degree subgroups. ConclusionBoth gender and degree type influenced AAPM membership trajectories. While we have offered a discussion of possible explanations, qualitative data collected from both continuing and departing AAPM members will be critical in the ongoing journey toward gender parity in the profession of medical physics.