Despite a wide gap between male and female neurologists, both in terms of academic faculty rank and number of publications, there may be some good news for women in this medical field.
A recent study of the 1,712 academic neurologists across 29 top-ranked neurology programs revealed that 1,184 (69%) were men and 528 (31%) were women, and men outnumbered women in all academic faculty ranks with a gap that increased as the rank advanced. For example, at the rank of instructor/lecturer, the male-to-female ratio was 59% to 41%. The gap only widens from there: assistant professor (57% male), associate professor (70%), and professor (86%).
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Additionally, unadjusted analyses showed that men had significantly more publications listed in PubMed than women at the positions of assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor.
The investigators compiled their list of programs and faculty members by combining the top 20 programs listed on either the 2016 or 2017 Doximity Residency Navigator tool with the top 20 programs listed in the U.S. News and World Report ranking of Best Graduate Schools and a search of the programs’ departmental websites between December 1, 2015, and April 30, 2016.
The study was not able to account for many potential explanations for the gender gap, suggesting that the findings may not necessarily be indicative of bad news.
The results “can be viewed as either disappointing or encouraging, depending on whether they reflect persistent barriers to women trying to achieve similar goals as men, or whether they reflect a system that supports women with different goals altogether,” Dr. McDermott and her colleagues wrote.