Gender Evaluation and Numeric Distribution in Emergency Medicine Residencies (GENDER): A Retrospective Analysis of Gender Ratios Among Residents and Residency Directors from 2014-2017

Abstract

Introduction: While females make up more than half of medical school matriculants, they only comprise about one third of emergency medicine (EM) residents. We examined EM residency cohorts with entering years of 2014–2017 to estimate the ratio of males to females among residents and program leadership to determine what correlation existed, if any, between program leadership and residency gender distributions. Methods: We identified 171 accredited EM residency programs in the United States with resident cohorts entering between 2014-2017 with publicly available data that were included in the study. The number of male and female residents and program directors were counted. We then confirmed the counts by contacting the programs directly to confirm accuracy of the data collected from program websites. Results: Within the included 171 programs, the overall male to female EM resident ratio was 1.78:1. Individual program ratios ranged from 0.85-8.0. Only eight programs (5.6%) had a female-predominant ratio. Among program directors, the overall male to female ratio was 2.17:1. TThe gender of the program director did not have a statistically significant correlation with the male to female ratio among its residents (P = .93). Conclusion: Within 171 residency programs across the US with entering cohorts between 2014-2017, the average male to female ratio among residents is nearly 2:1. No significant correlation exists between the gender distribution among a program’s leadership and its residents.