Does Radiology Have a Gender Imbalance?

November 14, 2018

Men outnumber women in radiologic society committee members and higher academic ranks.

Gender disparity remains in the leadership positions in North American radiology societies, according to a study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Researchers from Canada, Pakistan, and the United States sought to outline the gender distribution in leadership positions in the North American radiology societies. To do so, they conducted a review of North American radiology societies to identify committee members and those holding leadership positions. The researchers identified gender, university affiliation, and academic rank from departmental websites.

The results showed that of 2,826 radiology society committee members, men outnumbered women 67.4% (1,906) to 32.6% (920).

Other findings included:

Of 696 society leadership positions	501 (72.0%)	195 (28.0%)
Held leadership positions	26.3%	21.2%
Median h-index	14	11
Median number of publications	52 (range, 2–1264)	35 (range, 2–428)
Median number of citations	880 (range, 0–54,813)	483.5 (range, 0–17,332)
University rank of professor	39.5%	33.4%

Across university academic ranks of assistant and associate professor, research productivity metrics were similar between genders, but female representation decreased with increasing academic rank.

The researchers concluded that gender disparity exists in the leadership positions in North American radiology societies.