Objective

The purpose of this research was to examine the knowledge and perceptions of family leave policies and practices among senior leaders including American Association of Medical College members of the Group on Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS) to identify perceived barriers to career success and satisfaction among female faculty.

Methods

In 2011 and 2012, GWIMS representatives and senior leaders at 24 medical schools were invited to participate in an interview about faculty perceptions of gender equity and overall institutional climate. An inductive, thematic analysis of the qualitative data was conducted to identify themes represented in participant responses. The research team read and reviewed institutional family leave policies for concordance with key informant descriptions.

Findings

There were 22 GWIMS representatives and senior leaders in the final sample. Participants were all female; 18 (82%) were full professors with the remainder being associate professors. Compared with publicly available policies at each institution, the knowledge of nine participants was consistent with policies, was discrepant for six, with the remaining seven acknowledging a lack of knowledge of policies. Four major themes were identified from the interview data: 1) Framing family leave as a personal issue undermines its effect on female faculty success; 2) poor communication of policies impairs access and affects organizational climate; 3) discrepancies in leave implementation disadvantage certain faculty in terms of time and pay; and 4) leave policies are valued and directly related to academic productivity.

Conclusions

Family leave policies are an important aspect of faculty satisfaction and academic success, yet policy awareness among senior leaders is lacking. Further organizational support is needed to promote equitable policy creation and implementation to support women in medical academia.

Background

Women have entered academic medicine in significant numbers for 4 decades and now comprise 20% of full-time faculty. Despite this, women have not reached senior positions in parity with men. We sought to explore the gender climate in academic medicine as perceived by representatives to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS) and Group on Diversity and Inclusion (GDI).

Methods

We conducted a qualitative analysis of semistructured telephone interviews with GWIMS and GDI representatives and other senior leaders at 24 randomly selected medical schools of the 1995 National Faculty Study. All were in the continental United States, balanced for public/private status and AAMC geographic region. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and organized into content areas before an inductive thematic analysis was conducted. Themes that were expressed by multiple informants were studied for patterns of association.

Results

Five themes were identified: (1) a perceived wide spectrum in gender climate; (2) lack of parity in rank and leadership by gender; (3) lack of retention of women in academic medicine (the "leaky pipeline"); (4) lack of gender equity in compensation; and (5) a disproportionate burden of family responsibilities and work-life balance on women's career progression.

Conclusions

Key informants described improvements in the climate of academic medicine for women as modest. Medical schools were noted to vary by department in the gender experience of women, often with no institutional oversight. Our findings speak to the need for systematic review by medical schools and by accrediting organizations to achieve gender equity in academic medicine.