Gender Distribution of Faculty Is Strongly Correlated With Resident Gender at Canadian Radiology Residency Programs

Abstract

Objective: Women are underrepresented in radiology overall, in radiology subspecialties, and in radiology leadership and academic positions. It is unclear why this disparity persists despite greater gender diversification in medicine. We sought to determine if a correlation exists between the proportion of female faculty at an institution, and the proportion of female residents in the associated residency program across Canada. Methods: Faculty gender for each Canadian Diagnostic Imaging Residency Program was obtained through publicly available sources (departmental websites and provincial physician registries) in the fall of 2020. Resident gender data was obtained through a survey emailed to programs following the April 2021 CaRMS match. Data was analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Research ethics approval was obtained. Results: Faculty information was available for 15 of the 16 Canadian radiology residency programs (94%) and resident information was obtained for 16 programs (100% response rate). Overall, women accounted for 31.4% of radiologist faculty and 31.9% of radiology residents, with a wide range between institutions (19.5–47.8% for faculty and 13.3%–47.1% for residents). There was a strong positive correlation between the proportion of female faculty and the proportion of female residents within individual programs (r=0.73; R2=0.54; p=0.002). Conclusion: Approximately one third of faculty and residents at Canadian Diagnostic Radiology residency programs were female but there was a wide range across the country with a strong correlation between faculty and resident gender distribution. Further exploration is warranted to determine causes of this correlation including the possible influence of role modeling, mentoring, female-friendly culture, and bias.