Gender disparities in major award recognition persist within allergy community

Key takeaways:

• Out of 672 allergy/immunology awards since 1947, only 16.5% were awarded to women.
• Within a year, the highest number of awards received by men was 21, compared with seven received by women.

Despite a nearly sex-balanced allergy workforce and strategic efforts to address inequality, there remains a persistent sex disparity in award recognition, according to a letter published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

“It has been well-documented in many professions that there is a gap between men and women in terms of pay and promotion, and the field of medicine is no exception,” Monica T. Kraft, MD, assistant clinical professor of otolaryngology in the division of allergy and immunology at The Ohio State University, told Healio. “My previous research showed the disparities in allergy leadership positions with most division leaders being male, despite a nearly equal workforce and most current trainees in allergy being female. Societal awards can be seen as a way to promote recognition for achievements, and no one has yet analyzed any gender disparities in awards within allergy.”

This motivated Kraft and her co-author Matthew D. Viveiros, BS, a medical student at The Ohio State University, to create a study that explored the sex disparities in awards presented by prominent U.S. organizations in the field, including the Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, and the Clinical Immunology Society.

Examining the disparity

Kraft and Viveiros primarily sought to examine the gender disparity in award recognition within the field of allergy/immunology and continue to advocate for equality in the field, they wrote in the letter.

To do so, they performed a cross-sectional study of the gender of recipients of 672 major awards dating back to 1947. They gathered information from society websites and various online platforms to determine the names and pronouns associated with each recipient as well as the identity of the granting organization and the date of recognition.

Out of the 672 awards the researchers assessed, 83.5% were awarded to recipients who identified as men, whereas only 16.5% were awarded to recipients who identified as women. After 1996, when women began receiving awards in consecutive years, men still outperformed women, receiving 78% of total awards.

Further, the maximum number of awards given to men in a single year was 21, which accounted for 78% of the total awards in 1999. Contrastingly, the highest number of awards received by women in a year was seven, which constituted 39% of the major awards gifted in 2007.

The authors also noted that since 1996 there have only been 5 years (1999, 2007, 2014, 2018, 2022) when six or more women received award recognition within a single year.

Finally, prior to the establishment of ACAAI’s Women in Allergy award in 1997, the mean number of awards given per year was heavily skewed in favor of men recipients, according to the paper. At that point in time, men received an average of 4.2 awards compared with an average of 0.3 awards received by women.

Although women on average received a greater number of awards (3.7) after 1997, men still received a higher average of 13.1 awards per year.

Personal connection

Kraft said that although she personally has not experienced this gender disparity in award recognition, she has encountered other professional obstacles due to her gender.

“Even with a very supportive spouse and colleagues, there are also challenges to being a mother of young children and balancing professional advancement,” Kraft told Healio, adding that her interest in the allergy field began in medical school with her fascination with the immune system.

“I have loved learning about the ways the immune system can both protect our bodies and over- or under-react as in allergies and immune deficiency,” she said.

Kraft highlighted the professional support she has received along the way from other women in medicine, including her mother, a retired physician. Still, she noted the “ubiquitous” experience of role incredulity, which she argues is not unique to women but is also felt across health care providers from underrepresented groups.

“Some of the challenges ... are assumptions that we are not the doctor, or the attending or the leader of the care team when there are other team members,” Kraft said.

Looking forward

Kraft and Viveiros concluded that there remains an enduring and considerable gender disparity within award recognition in allergy/immunology, despite consistent efforts to rectify this inequality, such as the establishment of the Women in Allergy award.

“I was not surprised by the results,” Kraft told Healio.

The researchers called for a reevaluation of current efforts being performed to address this disparity and recommend additional support to help women in allergy achieve recognition. This can be achieved through methods such as targeted mentorship programs and the creation of awards meant to identify underrepresented groups, they wrote.

Kraft said this is a complex issue that will take time to truly resolve.

“Gender disparities are multifaceted, and I don't believe any single solution is going to ‘solve’ these problems. Many of these issues take time to address on the multiple levels necessary to enact lasting change,” she told Healio.

However, she remains hopeful that these disparities will eventually be eliminated, as long as professional societies actively work to create change.

“As long as continued efforts are made to encourage women in leadership and academic achievement, over time these disparities will hopefully be eliminated. Focusing on mentorship and highlighting achievement are major focuses at the moment,” she said.

Kraft overall said she finds this area of research to be “fascinating” and plans to continue conducting studies that will reveal and address these disparities.

For more information:

Monica T. Kraft, MD, can be reached at monica.kraft@osumc.edu.