State of gender equality
Even with gender equality enshrined in British law, gender inequality still exists in the UK. The UK only ranks 20th in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report with significant inequality still observed in both women’s economic and political participation.
In the medical profession specifically a variety of statistics still demonstrate that women’s career pathways are not the same as their male counterparts. For instance:
- Whilst more women than men are now admitted to medical school, only 45% of registered doctors are currently female.
- 54% of medical students are female, but only 32% of all consultants are women. The numbers are much lower in some specialties (e.g. Surgery - 11%).
- Only 24% of Trust Medical Directors are female.
- Women are heavily underrepresented in academic medicine with only 28% of such positions held by females.
- Women are less likely to apply for national clinical excellence awards
- In 2014/15, just 17% of NIHR Senior Investigators were female.
- A gender pay gap still exists in both medicine and biological sciences
Research examining the reasons behind these inequalities suggests that there may be a myriad of reasons behind these discrepancies including conscious and unconscious biases, organisational cultures, gender stereotyping and differences in personal expectations, and considerations of work-life balance. The Features section of the website will examine this previous research with a view to providing a spotlight to highlight areas where gender inequality could be challenged in our school.
Source: The King's Fund