Extract
The gender imbalance in medicine has been a topic of increasing interest and discussion. There are increasing proportions of graduating female medical students globally, with 41.1% of Australian doctors, 47% of UK doctors and 46% of medical residents in the USA being female [1, 2]. However, in positions of influence, the proportions change, such that in the USA only 21% of medical professors and 16% of medical deans are female [3]. Postulated reasons for this include implicit and unconscious gender bias and fewer promotion opportunities available to women.
Abstract
Analysis of the sex distribution of presenters in national and international conferences in 2017 demonstrates a significantly lower proportion of women in more prominent roles compared with men http://bit.ly/2lGJz02
Footnotes
This article has an editorial commentary: https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.01847-2019
Conflict of interest: M. Raviskanthan has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: M. Rees has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: J. Douglass is an employee of Royal Melbourne Hospital and the private medical practice Melbourne Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Consultants, and holds an honorary appointment at the Universtiy of Melbourne; and reports personal fees for lectures from and participation in trials for AstraZeneca, participation in trials for GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Grifols, BioCryst and Equilium, grants and personal fees for advisory board work and lectures from Novartis, grants and personal fees for advisory board work from CSL-Behring, outside the submitted work.
Conflict of interest: K. Sleeman has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: I. Higginson has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: N. Smallwood reports holding an unpaid role as the president elect of the Victorian Branch of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand.
- Received April 6, 2019.
- Accepted September 2, 2019.
- Copyright ©ERS 2020