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Grassroots to glass ceilings: WIO addresses inequities in ophthalmology
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COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — There continues to be a “leaky pipeline” on the way to holding higher-level faculty positions for women MDs, according to Lynn K. Gordon, MD, PhD, who is senior associate dean for equity and diversity inclusion at the David Geffen School of Medicine.
Between 1965 and 2004, the number of women MD graduates increased 45%, but the overall number of women faculty increased only 28%, Gordon said in a presentation on building equity in ophthalmology at the Women in Ophthalmology Summer Symposium.
More recent data show gradual growth for women MDs in high-ranking faculty positions, but not at a rate that reflects the available pool of women candidates for those jobs, Gordon said.
“When we look at race and ethnicity, [the disparity] is even more dire,” she said.
American Academy of Ophthalmology data show women represent about 25% of practicing member ophthalmologists. Female residents represent about 37% to 40% of members in training, a ratio that has remained stable over the past few years, she said.
In academia, more women than men staff instructor-level positions. “But when we go to assistant professor, associate professor, full professor, we don’t see the type of trends we expect,” she said.
Women ophthalmologists are further underrepresented as department chairs and in compensation for clinical work, grant money awards, relationships with industry and publishing.
“And what about the top 10 or 11 ophthalmology journals? Not a single chief editor is a woman,” Gordon said. “That is a problem. ... What happened to that glass ceiling?”
Kathryn Colby, MD, PhD, who participated in a follow-on panel session moderated by Gordon, told Healio.com/OSN, “There are two ways to change culture. Both are equally important and necessary, and one is a grassroots effort. I think that having a
session like this, about diversity and inclusion, at a place like Women in Ophthalmology with so many young ophthalmologists, those people can go out and encourage diversity, call out situations where there is no diversity. That is an important grassroots effort, but we need to address it from a leadership level.”
Colby is chair of the department of ophthalmology and visual science at the University of Chicago.
“We have a wonderful profession, but just looking at women and not at any of the other groups that are not well represented in organized medicine, we’re not doing a great job at having equity across either the leadership of our major societies or editorial boards of journals or even speaker parity at many of the major meetings. Grassroots is great. Individual leaders stepping up and making sure that things within their control are diverse and equitable is great. But leadership at the very highest level needs to buy in to this,” she said. – by Patricia Nale, ELS
Reference:
Gordon LK. Building gender equity in ophthalmology. Presented at: Women in Ophthalmology Summer Symposium; Aug. 22-25, 2019; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Disclosure: Gordon reports no relevant financial disclosures.