Leadership
Diversity matters
Women Leaders: Myths and Challenges

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Introduction

In my career, I have been the “first woman” in many organizational leadership positions: first woman vice chair for research, first woman chair, first woman society president, among others. The ACR 2018 annual meeting was abuzz with two important firsts: Dr Geraldine B. McGinty, MD, MBA, as the ACR’s first board chair in its 95-year history and Dr Ruth C. Carlos, MD, MS, as the new editor-in-chief of JACR (and in fact the first woman editor of a major radiology journal). These two highly capable colleagues are indeed deserving and promise to be transformative leaders in their new roles. Yet should we be still celebrating such “firsts” at this point in our field’s evolution? In this piece, I highlight the sources of stereotypes, bias, and barriers that challenge women in making cracks in a persistent glass ceiling. A paradigm shift is required for women to benefit from opportunity, skill building, sponsorship, and support in pursuing leadership trajectories. Counter-stereotype exemplars and male champions are critical to this journey.

Section snippets

Gender Stereotype and Leadership

Gender bias, stereotypes, and expected social norms provide substantial barriers to women in achieving leadership roles. Our general societal notion of leaders is that they are assertive, confident, and ambitious, traits more commonly associated with masculine attributes. The double bind that women face is posed by our commonly held perception of leadership characteristics as incongruent with what we think of as feminine [1]. A woman leader who behaves in a feminine manner (eg, compassionate,

Where Is the Pipeline?

Despite years of gender equity in medical schools, women remain underrepresented in leadership roles in medicine such as division director, chair, dean, and practice leader. The reasons women do not advance into leadership tracks as frequently as men are numerous and complex. Yet, stereotype threat can result in loss of opportunities that typically pave leadership trajectories for men, such as high-impact research, authorships, promotion, speaking opportunities, and access to mentorship and

Combating Bias

Efforts to support diverse leaders must be embraced by all, and influential male champions play an essential role in eroding leadership barriers for women. Unilever, a €53 billion enterprise, commissioned a study of the effects of gender stereotypes and social norms across eight international markets and showed that 77% of men and 55% of women believe that a man is the best choice to lead a high-stakes project [12]. Both men and women also felt that men were unwelcoming to women in the C suite.

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    Countries with higher gender equality (as measured by the Gender Development Index) and with a higher percentage of female medical school enrollment tend to have greater representation of women in the radiology workforce (29). These disparities become even more stark in U.S. radiology at the leadership level (30–34). Inclusion in an editorial board signifies national and international recognition as an authority, which is an important consideration for promotion in academic institutions.

  • Do Gender Disparities Among Major Radiological Society Award Recipients Exist?

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    Our findings suggest that women have been historically well recognized as distinguished educators but underrepresented as leaders and overall contributors among award recipients of major radiological societies. Gender stereotypes and expected social norms including traditionally feminine traits such as being compassionate, kind, and approachable are likely viewed as positive attributes for educators but often perceived as negative or weak attributes for leaders (32). The fact that women are deemed effective educators is unlikely to have an impact on widespread perceptions regarding female leadership within the radiology community without active intervention.

  • Sponsorship: A Proven Strategy for Promoting Career Advancement and Diversity in Radiology

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    Men may tend to make more informal network connections and be more self-promoting, whereas women may feel more hesitant to advance into a new role or negotiate a fair salary [1,3,5,7]. Women may also be wary of displaying a self-promoting attitude for fear that they may be penalized for being “overly” ambitious or confident [1,6,18]. Published studies also suggest other gender differences that may serve as barriers to women’s career advancement, such as differences in work and life priorities [1,3,5], the presence of gender bias in the workplace [18], or the limited availability of effective female sponsors in leadership positions [1].

  • Diversity Committee: A Means to Local Gender Equity

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The author has no conflicts of interest related to the material discussed in this article.

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