Not Just Surviving, But Thriving: Overcoming Barriers to Career Advancement for Women Junior Faculty Clinician-Researche
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IN BRIEF REPORT
Not Just Surviving, But Thriving: Overcoming Barriers to Career Advancement for Women Junior Faculty Clinician-Researchers Jennifer M. Zakaras 1 & Urmimala Sarkar 1 & Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo 1 & Christina V. Mangurian 1 Received: 19 December 2019 / Accepted: 26 October 2020 # Academic Psychiatry 2020
Abstract Objective Although women attend medical school and residency at similar rates to men, they experience lower levels of academic career advancement than men. To inform national gender equity efforts, the authors conducted a qualitative study to explore potential gender differences in the career experiences of junior research faculty at a premier research institution. Methods Focus group discussions were conducted among women and men junior research faculty at the School of Medicine at an urban public research university. Participants were early mentored career development award recipients (K-awardees). Two same-gender focus groups of nine women and six men were conducted. Discussions focused on two domains: barriers to maintaining a research career and facilitators for research career development. Data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti and content analysis methods. Results Both women and men identified a challenging funding environment, difficulty bridging the salary gap, and lack of institutional support as barriers to maintaining their research careers. Women perceived two primary barriers to their career advancement that were different from their male counterparts: They were more likely to feel undervalued at the institution and to experience significant strains related to both childbearing and childcare. Women also reported receiving inadequate mentorship, having poor negotiation skills, and experiencing a lack of negotiation opportunities. Conclusions Academic research institutions should consider interventions that provide financial, emotional, and practical support to women research faculty, particularly during their childbearing and childrearing years. Keywords Gender . Career advancement . Academic medicine . Focus group
Significant gender disparities persist in academic medicine career advancement. In 2014, women held only 12% of full professorships [1] and 10% of departmental chair positions [2] despite accounting for 40% of US medical school faculty. Additionally, pronounced gender differences in faculty salary endure, even after adjusting for experience, specialty, rank, and productivity [3]. This gender gap cannot be explained by a cohort effect or a weak pipeline. Since the 1970s, the number of women applying to and matriculating in medical school has steadily increased and is currently at parity with men [4]. Those women who choose academic medicine careers are promoted at lower rates than men [5] and are less likely to hold tenured positions [6]. These challenges have attracted * Christina V. Mangurian [email protected] 1
University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
the attention of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which created several progr
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