Gender Differences in Academic Advancement: Patterns, Causes, and Potential Solutions in

The influx of women into academic medicine over the past three decades has not been accompanied by equality for male and female faculty in terms of rank attainment, leadership roles, sal-aries, and treatment by colleagues or superiors. Although the percentage of female faculty in academic medicine has doubled over the last three de-cades, increasing from 13 % in 19671 to 27 % in 1999,2 women have not achieved parity with men in academic ranks or tracks. Only 6 % of academic departments (170) were headed by women in 1998, and there were only six women deans at U.S. colleges of medicine in 1999.2 In addition to disparities observed in rank and leader-ship,3–6 women physicians receive lower salaries than their male col-leagues.4,7–9 Possible explanations for these disparities have included lower productivity of women,5,8,10 conflict between familial and professional roles for women,11,12 and academic climates that support gender discrimination and sexual harassment.13–15 Most research on gender differences in academic medicine has used U.S. national level data, looking across and within specific disciplines. However, these studies have been hampered by a lack of data on academic track (i.e., tenure versus nontenure) and reliance Purpose. The influx of women into academic medicine has not been accompanied by equality for male and female faculty. Women earn less than men in compa-rable positions, progress more slowly through academic ranks, and have not attained important leadership roles. This study tested hypotheses about why gender dispa-rities exist in salary, rank, track, leadership, and per-ceptions of campus climate at one academic center, th