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Women in Pediatrics: Increasing Numbers in Our Field Does Not Mean There is Equity in Opportunity :

September 23, 2019

Our field of pediatrics is one of the professional fields where the number of women outnumber men. This does not mean that there is equity in professional opportunities.

Our field of pediatrics is one of the professional fields where the number of women outnumber men. This does not mean that there is equity in professional opportunities.  Spector et al (10.1542/peds.2019-2149) provide a comprehensive evaluation of the progress of women in pediatrics and how far we still need to go.  The authors evaluate four areas of importance—(1) the prevalence of women leaders in academic medical centers, hospitals, and other health care organizations; (2) the involvement and leadership of women in medical societies; (3) the role of women in medical journals as authors and editorial board members; and, (4) the role of women in receiving funding for their academic work or their leadership of funding agencies.  The results suggest that while improvements are happening in all four areas, they lag behind what would be expected based on the number of women in pediatrics. 

To advance women’s involvement in our field, Spector et al. introduce us to a 6-step equity, diversity, and inclusion cycle (EDI) as a strategic approach for making change and developing future leaders across our field.  You can think of it as a continuous improvement cycle for achieving equity. 

Will the EDI cycle strategy work?  We asked Dr. Alice Ackerman from the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, and a member of our editorial board to provide an accompanying commentary (10.1542/peds.2019-2568).  While Dr. Ackerman notes the importance of the work of Spector et al. and the potential success of using the EDI cycle, she also notes that women will not achieve the equity unless the EDI process is used by organizations outside of pediatrics to achieve gender equity.  Dr. Ackerman provides a list of organizations working for gender equity independently and calls for the EDI cycle to be the catalyst that brings them together so that gender equity for women in whatever aspect of the professional workforce they choose is ultimately achieved.  Read this article and accompanying commentary and share your thoughts with us by leaving a comment with this blog, on our website where the article is posted, or on our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter sites.  We look forward to your comments and thoughts.

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