Women in medicine report inconsistent criteria during promotion processes
Women in academic medicine found promotion and tenure processes to be characterized by inconsistency or ambiguous criteria, exacerbated by long-standing gender disparities, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.
“For several decades, data have shown that women in academic medicine do not advance in their careers in parity with men,” Marie Murphy, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues wrote. “Women in academic medicine are promoted at lower rates than men and are less likely to hold tenured positions.”
Murphy and colleagues interviewed women in academic medicine to examine their experiences of promotion and tenure, along with observations of men’s comparative advancements.
Respondents comprised 52 women with a mean age of 54 years. Eighteen women held an MD degree, four held both an MD and a PhD, and 30 held a PhD. Fourteen were assistant professors, eight were associate professors and 30 were full professors at the time of the interviews. Additionally, 23 held leadership positions and 15 held endowed chairs.
The researchers identified four dominant themes from responses:
- ambiguous or inconsistent criteria for promotion and tenure;
- lack of standard processes for reviewing applications and making decisions;
- vulnerability to the malicious behavior of senior faculty, department chairs and division chiefs; and
- seeing men have different experiences.
Regarding the first theme, the women interviewed said that criteria was not made clear and there was always the potential to be surprised by unknown requirements. One respondent addressed “moving goalposts” during the process, and others stated that they had been surprised by a lack of recognition for measurable accomplishments or denial even when accomplishments were recognized.
Women who experienced a lack of standard processes felt no guarantee that their application would be reviewed promptly or be seen by anyone with authority over the process. One woman described having to “consistently pound on the door” to ensure progress of her promotion, whereas another said that her chair had “sat on” her promotion for a year.
Then, if it wasn’t obfuscated criteria or neglect, several women described experiences with senior faculty who had power over their advancement that they interpreted as deliberate attempts to undermine them.
“When the women we interviewed compared their career advancement with their observations of their men colleagues’ careers, they sometimes observed that men with achievements comparable to theirs advanced more quickly than they did,” the researchers wrote about the fourth theme.
The respondents also described being told that “it was too early to advance,” whereas male colleagues with similar or lesser qualifications were promoted. One respondent said she received the explicit message that the tenure committee did not want to give her tenure “just because she’s a woman.” She convinced them after comparing her curriculum vitae with that of three male colleagues who had been put up for tenure.
Murphy and colleagues noted the limitations of the study, including varying criteria at different types of faculties or career tracks. They also did not examine the significance of additional dimensions of diversity, such as sexual orientation, race or ethnicity and disability.
“Previous interventions have been implemented or proposed to address gender disparities in career advancement ... but our research suggests that making tenure and promotion practices more transparent and subject to systematic oversight could also have broad impacts, both for improving individuals’ experiences of promotion and tenure and for addressing gender disparities in career advancement,” Murphy and colleagues concluded.
Collapse
Read more about