Female cardiologists are more likely to experience discrimination than male colleagues

A survey of U.S. cardiologists found that women were nearly three times as likely as men to report they experienced some form of discrimination. Women were significantly more likely to report sex and parenting discrimination, while men were significantly more to report racial and religious discrimination.

Women were also significantly less likely than men to report a higher level of career advancement and more likely to report a lower level of career advancement compared with their peers. In fact, 37 percent of women and 20 percent of men said family responsibilities had a negative effect on their career advancement.

Still, 88 percent of female cardiologists and 90 percent of male cardiologists said they were moderately to very satisfied with their work lives.

Results of the survey were published online Dec. 21 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

This was the third professional life survey from the American College of Cardiology (ACC). The other two occurred in 1996 and 2006.

A report in 2013 found that 13 percent of cardiologists were women. Meanwhile, women accounted for more than 35 percent of internists, more than 30 percent of hematologists/oncologists, 18 percent of general surgeons and more than 50 percent of obstetricians/gynecologists.

“If half of all medical residents but only 13 percent of our cardiology community are women, we are missing the inclusion of some of the most talented young physicians,” Sandra J. Lewis, MD, the first author of the paper, said in a news release. “These data support an opportunity for cardiology leadership, both men and women, to assure that our future cardiologists represent the best and most inclusive group possible, free of discrimination in our community.”

For this survey, the ACC sent email invitations to 11,539 physicians in the U.S. who were members of the organization. The final sample included 2,796 women, an age-matched sample of 6,025 men and 1,977 fellows-in-training (FITs).

Of the 2,313 physicians who completed the survey, 42 percent were women, 58 percent were men, 63 percent were white, 21 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander and 13 percent were FITs. The response rate was 30 percent for women, 18 percent for men and 15 percent for FITs. The 21 percent overall response rate was lower than the 31 percent response rate in 2006 and the 49 percent response rate in 1996.

A significantly greater percentage of respondents were 60 years old or older in this survey compared to the 1996 and 2006 surveys. In 2016, 74 percent of male cardiologists and 50 percent of female cardiologists were older than 50 years old. Respondents to this survey were also less likely to work in private practice and less likely to practice invasive, noninterventional cardiology than in 1996 or 2006.

The survey found that 80 percent of women and 85 percent of men practiced adult cardiology, while 13 percent and 7 percent, respectively, practiced pediatric cardiology. In addition, 10 percent of women and 4 percent of men practiced part-time, while 10 percent of men and women currently did not practice cardiology.

Women were more likely to practice general clinical cardiology or echocardiography and less likely to practice interventional cardiology or electrophysiology compared with men. Women also spent more time in outpatient clinical practice and less time in hospital/inpatient care compared with men.

Only 1 percent of women and 2 percent of men were very dissatisfied with their work lives, while 63 percent and 65 percent, respectively, were satisfied with their financial satisfaction.

Further, 45 percent of women and 54 percent of men said they were very satisfied with their family life, while 38 percent and 33 percent, respectively, said they were moderately satisfied with their family life.

Similar numbers of men and women respondents said they had mentors during their subspecialty training, although women were significantly more likely to have a women or pediatric cardiologist as a mentor. Since the first survey in 1996, respondents said their mentors spent more time with non-career help as well as career planning and decision-making.

In this survey, 65 percent of women reported discrimination, which was down from 71 percent in 1996. The proportion of men reporting discrimination, which was 23 percent, did not change during that time period.

Further, 89 percent of men and 75 percent of women were married, while 87 percent and 72 percent, respectively, had children. Women with children at home were significantly more likely to have part-time or full-time day care for their children.

In addition, 38 percent of women and 29 percent of men said family responsibilities hindered their ability to do professional work, while 46 percent and 41 percent, respectively, said they family responsibilities hindered their ability to travel for professional advancement.

The researchers mentioned a few limitations of the survey, including that they could not independently verify the data. The survey response rates were lower than in the previous two surveys, so the researchers said they could not rule out the possibility that non-responders could have significantly different experiences than responders.

“Addressing the changing demographics and practice settings of the work force, increasing diversity, and achieving parity in race and sex continue to be important goals for the cardiology community,” the researchers wrote. “This study provides comparisons over 2 decades in the microcosm of medicine that cardiology in the United States represents. These data inform our community and allow databased discourse as we assess and plan for the ongoing challenges facing the lives of men and women in cardiology.”

Tim Casey,

Executive Editor

Tim Casey joined TriMed Media Group in 2015 as Executive Editor. For the previous four years, he worked as an editor and writer for HMP Communications, primarily focused on covering managed care issues and reporting from medical and health care conferences. He was also a staff reporter at the Sacramento Bee for more than four years covering professional, college and high school sports. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA degree from Georgetown University.

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