Mustaches Outnumber Women Among Medical-School Leaders; Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/17/15

Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education; Mustaches Outnumber Women Among Medical-School Leaders:

"Q. There’s an absence of female leaders in many professions. Are there reasons specific to the medical field that explain why there aren’t more women in charge?

A. Our data show that there is variation based on type of specialty. There are certain specialties that have fewer women — many of the surgical specialties, for example. There are several steps that department leaders can take to address these issues. In addition to policies that limit sexual harassment and allow for maternity leave, there are two really strong, evidence-based solutions that we make.

One is ensuring that people doing the hiring have well-defined, very specific hiring criteria. Unconscious bias is well documented: When interviewers and recruiters are making hiring decisions, they tend to favor the male candidate and then excuse or explain their decision in retrospect. Having very clear, a priori criteria makes them more likely to make a fair decision.

The second thing is that women are penalized for taking short breaks off for childbearing when jobs are structured in a way that reward long, continuous hours. So giving more control over where you work and how you work really helps women’s advancement."