Women Are Less Likely Than Men to Be Full Professors in Cardiology

Article, see p 506 Academic cardiology exists within a broader culture where stereotypic assumptions about men and women are pervasive. Even if not consciously endorsed, these cultural stereotypes impede the entry, persistence, and advancement of women in academic cardiology. Often outside of conscious awareness, stereotypes can shape the decisions of those who determine who to admit, hire, promote, fund, and mentor in academic cardiology, and also influence individual cardiologists as they decide whether they “fit” in interventional or noninvasive cardiology, in research or clinical practice, or into the top leadership strata of academic cardiology. After adjusting for age, clinical experience, cardiology subspecialty, and multiple measures of research and clinical productivity, Blumenthal and colleagues,1 in this issue of Circulation , found the odds of being a full professor were 37% lower among female than male US academic cardiologists. Given that women comprise nearly half of medical school matriculates, in the face of the current and projected cardiology workforce shortage, with more than half of current cardiologists >55 years of age, identifying barriers for women’s career advancement in academic cardiology is critical to attract women to the cardiology workforce.Regardless of one’s personal beliefs, simply knowing a group stereotype serves as a perceptual filter in evaluating information about a group member. Prevailing male-gendered stereotypes include “agentic” traits and behaviors (eg, assertive, independent, and technically skilled), whereas female-gendered stereotypes include “communal” traits and behaviors (eg, submissive, dependent, and relational). Stereotypic assumptions of leaders overlap to a far greater extent with male than female stereotypes, creating a congruity for men but not women with leadership roles. This tenacious mental model of leaders as men persists despite decades of disconfirming research showing no difference in the effectiveness of male and female leaders and the importance of both agentic and communal behaviors in the most …