This post is authored by Priya Kansal MD, FACC, director of the Women's Heart Program at Salem Health in Oregon, and Bina Ahmed, MD, FACC, FSCAI, an assistant professor of interventional cardiology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Both are members of the Women in Cardiology section.

Recently, a young actress gave a powerful speech to introduce a new movement at a United Nations forum for gender equality. The campaign, called ‘He for She,’ aims to end all forms of discrimination against women and girls globally. The movement focuses on the need for both men and women to work in solidarity to achieve a common goal. As I heard the speech I couldn’t help but think of how applicable and important this approach would be within academic medicine.

The most recent AAMC report of women in academic medicine, titled Statistics and Benchmarking Report 2011-2012, supplies us with a snapshot of the current status of women in medicine and science. There continues to be striking disparities across all rank levels. Though almost half of all recent medical school graduates are women, they represent only 5 percent of the full professor rank compared to 19 percent of men.  Among women faculty at US medical schools, 13 percent were full professors, 18 percent were at the rank of associate professor and 50 percent were at the assistant rank. Another trend that has remained fairly consistent over time is that men are more twice as likely to hold tenure positions compared to women. For example, in 2011, 21 percent of men and 10 percent of women were tenured.

Women also continue to be at a disadvantage when it when it comes to income and salaries. In a study of nationally representative data, male physicians on average made $56,019 more per year than women in 2006-2010, a difference of 25 percent. That's up from the male advantage of $34,620 (16 percent) in 1996-2000, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine. Men continue to dominate across all rank levels in both clinical and basic science domains within academic medicine and, in accordance, there continues to be a wide gap in pay between the genders.

The reason for these persistent gaps remains debated. It’s been stated that women do not pursue career advancement like their male colleagues due to commitments to family. There also continues to be the presence of a glass ceiling which is more noticeable for women in careers and fields dominated by men. But regardless of the cause, there needs to be more focus on ending these pervasive disparities in the 21^st-century. We continue to take important steps in the direction of advocacy at a local level with formation of women in medicine groups and at a national level with discussions at legislative and at major societal meetings. However, if we want to really change the mold, we have to intensify our efforts and enlist the help of the other half. The vast majority of division chairs and chiefs are men, and career advancement needs to be promoted based on merit in equal support for both men and women. It is about time that we achieve gender equality in medicine by making it a priority not only by women for women, but also enlisting the support of our male colleagues to drive permanent change.

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